Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
2.50 A Journey Around the City

As the two of us break from our kiss, a low rumble echoes in the distance. She and I turn to one another, our hands lingering for a brief moment before she gives me a nod.

“Go ahead,” she says. “Just try to be careful up there. If you die, I promise I will revive you just so I can skin you alive myself for your recklessness!”

I know in my heart that she’s absolutely serious about it, too. Part of me wants to stay behind to be with her, but at the same time, I’m currently the only one among us capable of flight, even if only briefly. Aerial reconnaissance and information gathering before an encounter is already a battle half-won, and with my [Mechanist’s Eye] in tow, I imagine I’m nearly a match for Lindsey, in Skills if not prior experience.

I take to the sky, soaring on the [Wings of Icarus], feeling the rush of the twilight breeze blowing through my hair and against my face as I look toward the northern horizon, toward the heart of Red Clay City, where any monster attack is likeliest to occur. But I detect nothing, even with my new visual abilities. I turn to the east, toward the portal leading up to the Temple of Greed high above, wondering if we might have been trailed. But again nothing.

The rumbling continues once more. Below me, yes, but my ears aren’t as good as my eyes and I still can’t see a damn thing no matter where I look. It’s gotta be something subterranean. That’s the only thing that makes sense.

I glare down toward the surface, focusing my [Mechanist’s Eye] on detecting Ether rather than the physical world. When I do, I see something deep underground, though the attenuated picture is distorted and impossible to make out. It’s definitely the biggest creature we’ve fought to this point, except maybe the brachiosaur from a couple months ago. But where is it going, what is it doing, and why?

I clench my fist in anger. I don’t have the Skills that would allow me to disrupt such a thing. But if it’s some cultist prick who’s planning to use a giant worm or mole or whatever else to attack innocent civilians, then it falls upon us to take what action we can to save as many lives as possible.

I have a couple of [Tremor] and [Quake] glyphs that might be useful, but anything this large isn’t going to be stopped by something like that. No, it’s going to take all of us working together to bring this creature down. And that means we’ll probably have to chase it down and then interrupt it whenever it starts doing whatever it plans to do. Damn my powerlessness yet again!

I barrel down to the surface, not caring that I get scuffed by a few branches along the way. Lindsey and Kristil are already awake, the two of them and Chloe frantically gathering all of our belongings. There’s a pouch of hardtack waiting for me, which I quickly devour in-between tasks as we pack everything away and make sure that we’re as ready as we can be for the combat that likely awaits us when we arrive.

“Status report,” Lindsey says, sparing no time for pleasantries or introductions.

“Subterranean creature, possibly giant mole or worm. Moving north of northeast toward the city at a pace of twenty-ish miles per hour. Should arrive at the outskirts within the next forty minutes. Powerful creature; I don’t think I can fight it solo. We should be able to take it down as a team.”

“Can your [Ethersight] see that far? I was under the impression that it was heavily range-limited.”

I activate [Mechanist’s Eye] to show the evolution of the Skill. “New Skill variant. Doesn’t seem to have that same limitation.”

“Nice. And good to know. Are you ready to depart?”

I grab another piece of hardtack and shove it in my mouth as I nod. Barely a minute of final preparations and packing done at superhuman speeds follows before we take off.

We head along a nearby set of roads leading into Red Clay City. And damn, I hadn’t really noticed until now, but running on asphalt is a hell of a lot easier and faster than doing so through the thick, gooey clay at our feet. More [Strength] and [Speed] means we push that much more forcefully, and get that much more stuck in the dirt at our feet with each step. Here, on these solid roads, I feel light as a feather, my every stride taking me further and faster as we barrel through at speeds that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago.

And through it all, Chloe, Kristil, and I power forward, Lindsey looks like she’s just casually strolling along. The power of a class and a stat distribution actually focused on [Strength] or [Speed], while the three of us are all [Mind]-focused mages. Or mage-adjacent, in my case. If not for my desperate need for additional [Ether] and [Ether] regeneration, I would definitely be thinking long and hard about investing a few more points into my physical stats.

We push forward, Kristil now activating her [Lightning Reflexes] while Chloe places me and herself under the effects of her [Angelic Blessing] spell. New vitality and energy courses through me, helping me power through the hint of muscle fatigue that is starting to set in. But it’s still not enough. We’re barely keeping pace with the creature, seeming to taunt us from its underground den.

I dread what comes next, knowing well that splitting the party is a recipe for disaster, but in this circumstance, I agree that it’s the lesser of two evils. Lindsey turns to us with a nod, and we reciprocate in kind. And then she’s off, blazing forward with such alacrity that I can’t help but be awed.

We rush forward as well, doing our damnedest to keep up with the blistering speed of our [Ranger] and unofficial squad captain. But we have to temper our pace appropriately. All three of us are already bolstering ourselves with [Skills] and dripping our [Ether] down to keep the pace we are. And there’s no benefit to arriving on the battlefield winded, succumbing to [Ether] strain, and being easy pickings for whatever awaits us when we arrive. It’s a delicate balance, and not one I trust we’re optimizing perfectly.

Still we rush forward, ignoring a couple of Great Plains Gorillas and other potential threats to the people living only a few miles away. But none of us have the energy to deal with mere ‘potential’ problems. Not when there’s a certain, very imminent problem ahead and below, charging forward toward a city of nearly a million at the speed of an automobile.

Maybe my next project really ought to be not building new wings or a better gun, but actually just fixing my damn clunker still sitting in Chloe’s parents’ driveway. Or, no, it’s probably been towed off to the nearest junkheap by now. Strange thing is, even though it is— or was— mine, nothing of value is being lost.

I wonder if I can ask the army to simply requisition me an off-road vehicle. Then again, I doubt there’s a ton of refueling stations out in the middle of the wilderness. Concerns for later.

“I’m going to take to the air,” I say. “That way we have at least some warning if something is trying to ambush us.”

“Or Lindsey is already fighting something,” Chloe says.

I nod, not wanting to verbally acknowledge the possibility. With one final lingering touch of our fingertips, I once again soar on the [Wings of Icarus]. The sun has now crested above the eastern horizon, its shine burning away morning dew on the surface and the pleasant cool air of the final weeks of astronomical spring high above. With daylight shining around us, I have a moment to marvel at how much better my vision has gotten.

Even without activating my [Mechanist’s Eye], I can see colors with richness and vibrancy I’d never dreamed of. The greens of the grasses and trees beneath me intermingle with the golden glow of the dawn, painting a tapestry of natural beauty that transcends even the paintings of the great masters of yore. I can see small woodland animals going about their day, their attempts at camouflage utterly useless against these new eyes. And I know that when next I sit down to analyze these pieces of gear that we found in the dungeon yesterday, I’m going to make some major breakthroughs.

But first I need to survive today, win this battle, and save as many lives as I can. Echoes of the brachiosaurus fight still haunt my mind. Those mangled, battered corpses. The pictures of the two soldiers who were so broken that we couldn’t even give their remains that much recourse. The smell of blood, those torn and mauled faces and bodies, rent asunder with talon marks and chewed-off pieces of flesh from raptors feeding in the middle of the battle. People crying and grieving dead comrades, friends and family members, children losing parents, parents losing children. A scene I never again want to relive.

Nothing ahead of me. Nothing trailing us along the road. Plenty of critters on either side of us, but they seem content to leave us be.

I drop back to the ground, knowing I need to conserve my [Ether] for the battle ahead. I’ve still got a full seventeen hundred points left, and as we start passing from the wilds into the exurbs, I know I’m going to need it. That incessant rumbling just keeps going. And that makes me worry.

Are they targeting underground infrastructure? I hope not! If they destroy our water and sewage lines, we’re going to be swimming in literal shit. Maybe. But if their base is here in the city as Stefan suspects, they’re not going to take actions that are going to have blowback consequences upon them. Probably— I shouldn’t overestimate the sanity of a cultist.

But… It hits me like a freight train. This isn’t an attack on the city itself. They’re going after the thrice-damned politicians, trying to cripple the government at its core. And quite frankly, that pisses me off. Not because I have any more respect for the politicians than the pigs who work for them. If anything, it’s far, far less. But because I’m now in the uncomfortable position of actually defending the state’s most wretched hive of scum and villainy against an even more menacing force.

And I thought signing up to work with Nicholas was going to be the nastiest ‘rock and a hard place’ decision I was ever going to have to make in my young life. The System is probably snickering up wherever it is, gleefully absorbing all my misfortune. Damn it all straight to the deepest hell.

Kristil stops to catch her breath. While I’m worried about Lindsey, I trust her to stay calm and alive far more than I do Kristil. And if Kristil gets incapacitated, Chloe’s going to be next on the chopping block. I can compromise to some extent with many things. But Chloe’s safety and well-being is not among that list.

“How are things ahead?” Chloe asks. “Is it bad?”

“If my hunch is right, the cultists are heading straight for the Capitol,” I answer. “They’ve expressed hostility toward the government already. And this sort of an attack would be in accordance with both their stated intentions and methods to this point.”

“You’re not…” Chloe carries off.

“Not what?” Kristil asks.

“No. I’ve made up my mind. I can’t stand those horrible pissants we keep putting in charge of the government, and I bet a literal colony of ants could do a better job. It hurts my soul defending them, however tangentially.” I sigh. “But I think Lindsey is right. We need to be banding together collectively to fight against the System and ensure our continued survival as a people, not tearing each other apart.”

Kristil rolls her eyes. “So many speeches, Sera. You ready to stop yapping and get ready to fight these cultist pricks?”

I nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”