Chapter 34

Staring at my phone for a moment, the beep from the disconnection echoed loudly as my stomach dropped. My breath quickened, and my hand twitched, ready to teleport to Beach City. But before I could, I felt my arm being grabbed by Reinhardt.

"What are you doing?" His question was sharp, snapping me back to focus. Realizing what I was about to do, I nodded, and after Reinhardt let go, I had him follow me to my cabin, where everyone was resting in and around it, luckily not having taken another mission.

"GATHER UP!" I shouted, skipping any explanation. The sun beamed down, making my already sweat-slicked forehead gleam brighter as I watched everyone run over, weapons sheathed, asking what was going on.

"What's wrong, Duke?" Richie was the first to speak, his voice carrying the usual slight stutter that surfaced whenever he got a bit nervous.

"No time. Prep your weapons." Seeing everyone out of the cabin, I wasted no time. I waved my hand, and a white magic circle quickly appeared beneath us as we teleported toward Beach City.

"God, that sucks," Richard muttered, echoing a few others' complaints about being teleported. I ignored them and teleported several more times until Beach City came into view, massive plumes of smoke rising in every direction.

"..." Everyone fell silent, staring at the destruction for a solid five seconds. But not giving them any longer, I waved my hand, focusing on the area where my father's arcade stood, and we teleported once more.

"Watch out!" Suddenly, Owen stepped forward, blocking something plunging from the sky. The object screeched as it drilled into Owen's rare-ranked shield, allowing me a glimpse of what attacked us.

[Drill Parasites (Drone): Lv10]

The creature, curled into a drill shape, was trying to burrow into Owen's shield. Its baby blue color stood out, but seeing Owen starting to get pushed back, I wasted no more time. I swung my axe, breaking the creature out of its spin cycle and knocking it away. As it unraveled, it revealed a red opening on its underside, similar to a starfish.

"That didn't kill it?" I was shocked as the creature quickly flew away, refurling itself back into drill form, with the only sign of my attack fading as the massive cut vanished.

"Incoming!" Olivia screamed, and I turned to see four more parasites diving in from the sky. Our more agile combatants, like Richard and Melinda, grabbed their less agile allies and moved, dodging out of the way.

I was about to follow, but my mind changed as I watched Olivia beside me. She pulled back her bow, and a chilling energy surrounded the arrowhead. She unleashed it toward one of the parasites, freezing it instantly, causing it to vanish in a puff of white smoke trapped inside the ice like a genie in a lamp. Not stopping there, Olivia's hands blurred as she knocked and fired three more arrows, freezing the remaining parasites with similar precision.

"Good work!" I praised her, then looked around, specifically at my dad's arcade. Despite some damage from the parasites, it looked relatively intact compared to the surrounding chaos.

"Everyone!" Turning to the group, I immediately began giving orders, noting how the situation was worsening as more plumes of smoke rose into the sky.

"These things are level 10 but extremely durable, which they leverage to deal massive damage, so be careful. We'll use the arcade as our safe zone. Anyone you find, send them here!" I watched as everyone, except Lily and Cary, dashed off, either in pairs or alone.

"You two staying?" I asked. In response Lily wasted no time summoning skeletons from the corpses she had in her inventory, while Cary began preparing her golems, inserting crystal shards to bring them to life.

"Duke, do you have any bows I can arm them with?" Cary asked. I quickly opened my inventory, which now had 525 spaces, thanks to expanding by 25 with each level. I pulled out eight bows I hadn't sold from Olivia's attempts to get an epic-ranked weapon.

"Thanks. You can go now," Cary said as she distributed the bows. Lily's skeletons spread out, armed with crude weapons, some holding common-ranked shields, forming a defensive line around the arcade. The golems took up positions on the roof.

"How are they going to fire? I didn't—" I started, but stopped as I watched the golems pull back the bowstrings. At the same time a blue, glowing arrows of light formed, which, when released, flew into the distance, piercing the parasites and causing them to vanish in a puff of smoke.

"How?" I muttered, but there was no time for answers. I pulled out my phone and called my dad, hoping he would pick up. To my relief, he did, his panicked voice filtering through the line.

"Son! oh God thank goodness you called this might be the end of the road for your old man!" Hearing his words I did my best to stay calm as I attempted to ask him where he was but while waiting for a answer I swung my axe deflecting an attack from a parasite as it went into the ground under me.

"I'm nearby the Big Donut, son. I just wanted to say—" Hanging up the phone, I wasted no time teleporting, disappearing in a flash of light just in time to avoid the two parasites that drilled up from underneath where I had been standing.

"GOD DAMN IT!" I reappeared in the hole of the massive donut sign, quickly turning my attention downward as a familiar voice came from the front of the Big Donut. There, at the entrance, stood Jessica, a massive chunk missing from her arm, gripping a dagger tightly in her other hand.

"Jessica!" I screamed her name, rushing down to her. She visibly brightened at the sight of me.

"Finally! Do you have any potions?" she asked, her relief audible. I quickly pulled out a potion and handed it to her, keeping an eye on the surroundings as she chugged it down. Her wound mended visibly, and she sighed with relief.

"Your dad is inside. Please hurry—I don't want another close call," she said. Without hesitation, I entered the donut shop, finding my dad near the entrance, shivering while clutching a chair. Behind him, Sadie and Lars stood, armed with a broom and mop.

"SON!" My dad's voice was filled with relief as he dropped the chair and rushed to hug me.

"Where did you get that axe?" he asked, pulling back. Before I could answer, I teleported him, Sadie, and Lars to the arcade.

"Incoming!" Jessica's scream pulled me back outside, where I saw half a dozen parasites diving toward us. Without thinking, I dodged alongside Jessica, quickly moving to the side as the creatures embedded themselves into the ground.

Knowing what would happen next, I leapt up, swinging my axe down just in time to collide with an emerging parasite. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jessica performing swift maneuvers, her body becoming a blur as she dodged the other parasites.

POOF

Bisecting the parasite attacking me, I wasted no time joining Jessica in taking down the others. One of them managed to escape into the ground just in time to avoid Jessica's knife, causing her to curse.

"Don't worry about it. There are dozens more. Let's go save more people," I said. Together, we left the Big Donut, moving through the town, fighting off the parasites whose numbers only seemed to grow.

BOOOOOOOM

Suddenly, a controlled explosion lit up the street ahead. We quickly moved toward it and found Richard on his knees, taking a deep breath. The area around him was scorched.

"Oh, Duke... it's bad, man, it's bad," Richard said, his usually confident voice now panicked. I handed him a mana potion and got serious, noticing how his body steamed, his sweat drying instantly.

"They're replicating. If you let them enter the ground too many times, they create more of themselves. I wiped out the ones in my area in one go, but think about the others!" Richard's words alarmed me as I helped him up, flinching slightly at the high temperature of his hands.

"Good thing we're here, then," I said, giving him a tug to help him to his feet. The mana potion had already started to replenish his chi, which now glowed a distinct orange around his body.

"Richard, we're heading to Funland since no one else has gone that way yet. You can stay here or back up someone else. See you," Jessica said before we hurried toward Funland. Along the way, I spotted Amethyst wielding two whips, rapidly taking down parasites.

"Why aren't they letting up?! And where is Garnet?!" Amethyst's angry voice rang out. We quickly approached her, and she seemed surprised to see us—especially me—before we joined in to eliminate the parasites.

"HAH!" I shouted, spinning around as my axe bisected two charging parasites. I also left delayed strikes in the air to counter any parasites that tried to dive-bomb me from above.

Meanwhile, Jessica returned to her normal fighting style, fading in and out of stealth, killing any parasites that floated too low. Her stats and skills made her leaps into the air look effortless.

"Wow..." Amethyst's killing speed slowed as she took a moment to observe us, impressed and shocked by the magical effects of our skills. But even with her momentary slowdown, her whip remained a blur, cutting through the swarms of parasites faster than we could. Soon, the area cleared, allowing us to catch our breath.

"I didn't know humans could use magic. Those were some stellar moves," Amethyst said, complimenting us. Jessica and I smiled, but remembering the ongoing situation, we quickly moved away from her, running toward Funland. Amethyst's voice faded into the background as I barely caught her saying, "Sorry for nearly killing you!"

Sighing a little, I gave a thumbs-up as we continued running.

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Thought I would post one more chap before I go to basic so see you guys later and wish me a early birthday as I'm going to be in there during my birthday.

so see you peeps in 7.5 weeks if that because Im scared the school for Aircraft fuels apprentice will be so hard I wont be able to write fanfic because Im spending 90% of my time studying.