LTSV - Harbingers of Change - 17 (Patreon)

A System alert dogged Mira down the concrete steps.

[Congratulations, Hunter Samira Bellamy. You have received the First Tap Achievement for scoring the first damage for your team in a Boss Encounter. This will be reflected in your final reward calculation.]

She hoped that meant that Andrei wasn’t going to get rewarded for contributing nothing to the fight other than the last hit.

The others were approaching the entrance to Mira’s perch building by the time she made it to the ground. They all had the same tight, unhappy expressions. Andrei was, surprisingly, tagging along. He looked like he was expecting high-fives and didn’t understand why he wasn’t getting any.

Ugh.

“Is everyone alright?” she asked, looking them over.

“We got jumped by goblins who snuck up behind us about halfway through the fight, but Penny got them,” Cece said as she was looking Mira over in turn.

Penny shimmered into visibility and presented herself for adoration, which Mira gladly gave her. She looked at Alan and Randall. “Did it drop anything?”

Randall shook his head. “I didn’t see anything, but it sounds like Boss fights are different than normal combat. Did you see that message about the System calculating rewards?”

“I sure did,” Alan said with a dark sidelong look at Andrei that told Mira that it was probably a good thing that the Boss hadn’t dropped a chest or anything for Andrei to steal.

She nodded. “I got an achievement for First Tap. I don’t think it does anything, though.”

“I got an achievement for the final blow,” Andrei interjected even though the other boys had been talking with their bodies angled away from him.

Up close, Mira saw that she hadn’t been hallucinating. He really had tiny wings on his heels. “What are those and where did they come from?” she asked.

Andrei lifted one foot to look at the little wings. “I found a bunch of energy drinks in a busted out convenience store and I drank one when I ran out of water. They make you fly. You know like the jingle, Blue Ox gives you…”

Mira pinched her nose and noted the sudden scowls on Randall and Alan’s faces. They had seen that busted out convenience store while they were investigating the area, looking for any local resources that might have been meant to help them; the one that had an oddly lit up, but empty drinks section. So, Andrei had clearly gotten there first and picked it clean.

That was how they were supposed to have beaten the Boss. They were supposed to use the energy drinks to fly and break the Lanterns that way.

Andrei stood there, grinning, like he hadn’t just admitted to bogarting all the resources that the dungeon had provided for the boss fight. Maybe he didn't even realize he'd nearly gotten them killed. Maybe, in his mind, he found them so they were all his. Behind him, she could see Cece and Will standing comfortingly close to Bryn, who was looking hurt again. Andrei turned around and spotted him. He started to approach Bryn, but stopped when Bryn turned away and acted like he hadn’t seen.

Normally, Mira would feel bad for him, but it was clear from Andrei’s demeanor that he expected everyone to forget their argument and act like nothing had happened. He wasn’t sorry or ashamed of anything he’d done and that meant he’d probably keep doing it.

“I’m ready to leave,” she announced and the others nodded.

This time, she was spared the indignity of being carried. They were able to pick their way through the open Boss Zone, despite the hazardous terrain underneath.

Now, none of them were dumb enough to say something like ‘it’s finally over’ or ‘we’re safe.’ That didn’t prevent dramatic narrative timing from rearing up to bite them all in the ass anyway. The only warning they got was a feeling of displaced air as one of the Gévaudans leaped over them from behind and charged through the gate.

Cece screamed, Mira said something that would have gotten her in trouble in a previous life, while Alan said something even worse, and everyone else just made wordless noises of dismay and fear as they watched the Gévaudan’s furry rump vanish through the portal.

“This is bullshit!” Andrei shouted and, for once, Mira was in complete agreement. “We beat the boss before the timer ran out!”

In the distance, they heard a rising tide of goblin noises and more Gévaudan howls.

“Go!” Randall shouted. “Go, go, go!”

They ran forward and jumped into the portal.

The portal spat them out onto the Ocean-view drive, next to the sea wall where pedestrians were usually seen walking their dogs, rollerblading, and sitting on the tall steps of the sea wall to look at the bay.

Right now, however, the entire area was deserted.

Mira looked around, trying to spot the Gévaudan. It wasn't hard. The monster hadn't gotten far. There was a ring of concrete traffic dividers set up around the glowing portal behind them, but no cops or National Guard in evidence.

Instead, there was a single man who was standing with his back to them. He had the Gévaudan by the neck and, by the looks of it, it was already dead. He turned his head to look at them and, although she didn't recognize his face, Mira recognized those glowing red eyes.

She felt her lower lip start to tremble as Adra dropped the Gévaudan on the ground and turned in her direction, eyes trained on her. The boys (not including Andrei) formed a wall between him, Mira, and Cece as soon as he took his first step.

Adra snorted and a portal opened up under his feet. He dropped into it and Mira felt an arm catch her from behind her thighs as he rose up from the ground behind the boys' defensive perimeter. Mira was vaguely aware of some jostling as Cece got physically between them and Adra, but she wasn't paying attention because the first thing Adra had to say to her after days of separation was, "Where are your shoes?"

"Seriously?" she asked him and then gave in to the urge to just fold into the awkward embrace, bowing over the top of his head. "Where the hell have you been?" Then she shook herself as her brain kicked back into gear. "There's monsters incoming through the gate behind us."

Too late, she noticed the coiled wire behind his ear and then a crackly voice came from one of his breast pockets.

"Sir, we're moving in."

Around them, SUVs and vans appeared from a few blocks away and came to circle the portal creating an additional barrier around the gate. Men got out of the vehicles; big, beefy men with underbites who were all wearing bowler hats. They were carrying riot gear, clubs, and some other weapons and started to form a defensive perimeter around the portal.

Adra cleared his throat. "I, ah, was detained out here," he explained with his tone pitched for her ears only. "I'll tell you when we're alone. A lot has happened while we were separated."

"Hey, friend," Alan interjected with a pissed-of tic under one eye. "I'm going to have to ask you to put her down now."

The other guys, with the exception of Andrei who just looked confused, were no happier. Will was running his thumb along the spine of his book, Bryn had eased into Adra's path to the van, and Randall had moved to flank them. It was about the energy one could expect from a bunch of guys when some random walked up and manhandled one their female friends.

To Mira's surprise, Cece interrupted him before Adra could say anything. "Mr. Volkov!" Cece said though a tense smile. "I'm sorry for my friend's tone, but this is really not a good time for that kind of thing. Can you please put Mira down?"

Adra gave Cece a cool look and said, "No."

It was news to Mira that Cece even knew this person, but Adra had said that he'd tried to court Samira in a different body; the one he'd taken before he was forced to acquire his Mason body. What was the name he'd said? Ilya Volkov?

He looked like an 'Ilya Volkov' too; harshly handsome with high, sharp cheekbones, line lips, and a strong jaw. He was tall with a lean, muscular body and comparatively wide shoulders. He looked like a Romantasy mob boss and Mira could feel her face getting hotter the more she looked at him. She'd thought his Colvin face was exactly to her taste, but apparently her taste was more varied than even she would have predicted.

Apparently, Ilya Volkov had made an impression on Cece too and, from the look on her face, it wasn't an entirely positive one.

On the other hand, Adra had bugged Cecily even back when he was still pretending to be Colvin Adelram in their last life. There was just something about these two that rubbed each other the wrong way and not in the sense of simmering chemistry, either. Even once they'd started getting along they were more like asshole siblings than friends.

Well, this was at least a good clue.

Samira's memories of Ilya were not detailed; more a vague sense of 'oh, that guy' attached to a blurry image, but if Cece recognized him on sight and knew him by name then Mira could pretend to have known him better.

"Ilya can carry me," Mira said. She turned to Adra, "How did you know to pick us up? Did the System get you too?"

"Something like that," Adra replied and took her over to the nearest van. Someone had left the passenger seat open and he put her down there. Then he looked over his shoulder at the rest of her party. "The rest of you can wait here. The System issued an alert that the Gate had stabilized and was about to open. Monsters from inside will be able to pass through the Gate until we secure both sides, but not at the same rate they would have if you'd let a Dungeon Break happen."

"We didn't get a message like that!" Randall objected. "Wait, you got a message? Does that mean that everyone got awakened with a System window?"

"Not exactly," Adra said, shaking his head. "I'll be able to debrief you more, but suffice to say that there have been changes while you were in the Dungeon."

They all winced as the first goblin launched itself shrilly through the Gate and ran into the wall of Bowler Hats with riot shields.

A more delicate woman with the high, sharp cheekbones of an upper-level demon and a suspiciously tall hairstyle came over to Adra. She caught Mira looking and gave her a friendly, conspiratorial wink. She had a name tag. It read 'Syrith.'

Well, alright then. Adra hadn't just brought in his Bowler Hats, he'd summoned named demons. Shit must have gotten real serious while she was gone!

"The infiltration team is en route, Guildmaster. I've arranged for a transport to take Miss Bellamy back to the Highrise," she said.

Adra turned to Mira, "This is Syrith, my second in command. She'll be coordinating the Gate Containment and establishing a beachhead within the Dungeon.

Mira squinted up at Adra. "Guildmaster?" she echoed and was rewarded with the embarrassed look on his face as he cleared his throat.

"As I said," he coughed. "Many changes."

At least one of those changes appeared to be him making good on his threat to summon up an army of demons. Only instead of using them to flatten the government which was oppressing his wife, he'd been forced to summon them as a defensive force.

"Do you—need help with that?" Will hesitantly asked Syrith as one of the Bowler Hats shield-bashed a goblin backwards. It clung to the shield with its teeth and the Bowler Hat bashed it onto the ground.

Syrith pointed at the heart of the oncoming goblin horde and a bunch of them spontaneously exploded. She turned to smile at Will and didn't bother to hide her overly-sharp teeth. "Don't you worry about us, young man," she said and gave Mira a respectful nod before excusing herself to support the front line.

"What was that?" Will asked the rest of the team. "I'm not the only one who saw that, right?"

"Syrith is a citizen of the Altiviri Triumvirate," Adra sighed. "She's a volunteer who came to support this world as we deal with…" he paused to gesture, "…all this."

Mira was interrupted in the process of asking some pertinent questions when the System hit her with another popup window.

[Notice to Hunter Samira Bellamy: you have been admitted to the Living Shadow Guild. As part of your compensation package, you will receive 0.015% of all XP accumulated during Guild Operations.]

[Congratulations! Your Dungeon Raid Contribution Report is complete.]