15 Code Red Part 3

「 ...the Wraith's here!!! 」

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You have equipped the [ Title : Born of Giant's Strength III ].

You have used the .

Your [ Max.HP ] stat has been slightly improved.

Your [ Melee.DMG ] stat has been slightly improved.

Your [ Crit.Proc Chance ] stat has been moderately improved.

Your [ Immunity ] stat has been greatly improved.

_____

Nuel took a step towards the source of the smokescreen of shadows as soon as he activated his ability.

Nuel's [ STA ] -2.

_____

You have used the on youself.

Your [ COMP ] stat has been greatly improved.

_____

Nuel's [ Psion ] -0.2.

And he took another step forward.

And then another.

_____

You have used on yourself.

Your [ Quiscence ] stat has been slightly improved.

Your [ Stealth ] stat has been slightly improved.

_____

Nuel's [ Psion ] -0.5.

Nuel's [ STA ] -2.

And he was jogging.

Then he was sprinting.

And in a second, he had already ran over almost four meters along the dim, smoke-filled corridor, towards where the monster was.

Nuel's [ Psion ] -0.7.

Nuel's [ STA ] -2.

A shadowy, indistinct humanoid then appeared right in front of him.

「 F**K YOU!!! 」

And he leapt forward with his eyes glowing against the dark shadowy smokes.

"TAKE THIS YOU F**KER!!!"

_____

You have used .

Your [ Initiative Chance ] stat has been moderately improved.

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Nuel's [ Psion ] -2.7.

Nuel's [ STA ] -2.

A black tentacle sprouted from the Wraith's back and tore themselves through the air, charging towards Nuel.

Peering a second or so into the future, Nuel dodged the tendrils even with the relatively low [ Attribute : DEX ] that he had.

「 ...!!! 」

He leapt again and rolled as he rushed towards the Wraith, his [ Stamina ], [ Energy - Psion ] and [ Sanity ] bars got depleted by the seconds.

Nuel's [ Stamina ] -2.

Nuel's [ Psion ] -2.7.

Nuel's [ Stamina ] -0.7.

Nuel's [ Sanity ] -1.3.

Nuel's [ Psion ] -2.7.

Nuel's [ Stamina ] -0.7.

Nuel's [ Sanity ]...

Nuel's...

...

「 Four meters left- 」

The Wraith screamed in silence,

'DIE!!!'

Another flurry of black tentacles laced with chaotic and distorted energies whipped high-speed at Nuel, and some of them actually connected, lashing at the ancient exosuit and into between the gaps of its armour, tearing through the thin polyester hospital gown he wore underneath and ripped through his fleshes.

「 Just a bit more... 」

Bits of his meat at his exposed limbs and torso were pierced and shredded and some of them were already spraying blood.

Nuel's [ HP ] -3.1.

Nuel's [ HP ] -1.4.

Nuel's [ HP ] -2.2.

Nuel's [ HP ] ...

Ding!

_____

Your body has suffered multiple bleeding wounds.

You have been inflicted with the for 1 hour.

If your [ HP ] reach less than the [ Crit.HP ] value within the duration, the will be applied.

_____

Nuel's inadequate [ Evasion ] stat despite being compensated with his boosted [ Initiative Chance ] could only help him so far after all.

「 ...more... 」

He stretched his right arm already lacerated with multiple spatially-distorted flesh wounds towards the Wraith.

「 ...just a bit more... 」

Then he casted the system-given .

「 Now, f**k off! 」

It all happened in instant.

A blinding white light.

One moment.

Or two, Nuel did not know.

Then, nothing.

No more...

No more Wraith.

No more sanity-corroding headaches.

No more, nothing.

Just the low hum of the Bastion's nuclear-powered engine...

...and the crackling sound of electrical sparks within the now-exposed corridor walls, floors and ceilings...

...and the steam hissing, and water spraying, and oil pouring out of the many broken pipes everywhere...

...and of course, the slowly-dissipating leftover thick smokes.

The had disappeared altogether, albeit with parts of the corridor walls, floors and ceilings, in a 3 × 3 × 3 cubic meter volume in front of him.

_____

You have successfully used the at the target .

Target is being transported to a discreet, random location within at least 1,000 meters from your coordinate.

Please wait for a moment_

_____

Ding!

_____

[ Crisis Mission : Code Red! ] Completed : A 'Code Red' protocol is initiated company-wide within the Bastion via its internal PA system. It is a protocol executed only when there is confirmed contact with hostiles.

{REDACTED}""Follow ...

... effective for 600 seconds.""{ADDENDUM}

Use it to protect everybody else in the Bastion!

Progress :

• Target the with the : ( 1 / 1 ).

• Duration left : ( 6m:28s ).

Rewards :

• +20.

• × 5.

• × 1.

_____

You have successfully completed the [ Crisis Mission : Code Red! ].

Do you wish to receive the now?

- Y / N -

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「 Thank the Lord, finally... 」

Nuel slumped back against the wall as he let his badly-injured body kept on leaking blood from the spatially-mangled wounds.

The headache he had had from the Wraith's mind-corroding aura not only did not disappear, but instead had worsened - the system-granted Exilement ability consumes ninety-percent of Nuel's [ Energy: Psion ] to activate it, and Nuel, barely had enough when he used all his Psionic abilities all at once.

Fortunately, though his [ HP.Recovery ] maybe insignificant, it was at least functioning as it should be and was doing a fair job on retarding the Damage-over-Time of the from the fight.

「 Got to move away from here and find a place to recover...I need to remove the debuff too- 」

Nuel ambled his way with the wall as support as he eyed through his [ Inventory ] tab looking for healing items that he had never had, before scrolling lower to the [ Missions ] tab again.

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...and (1) fatal error has been resolved.

All data contamination has been purged from the current scenario.

Proceeding to revoke all system intervention from the current scenario.

Please wait for a moment_

Access to has been revoked.

Isolation protocol has been revoked.

Proceeding to reconstruct details of subsequent missions within [ Act 0 ] scenario.

Please wait for a moment_

_____

And with that, the PA system speakers suddenly crackled to life again.

>"Attention to all units; we have received intel on the sighting of a Flood occurence less than five kilometers southeast from our destination. The current Code Red protocol will be overseen by Internal Security while the rest, both military and civilian personnel will both enter combat-ready within the next twenty mike. Each will be organised by an officer of at least the Lieutenant-rank nearest to you. Military equipments and ordnance will be provided to any unarmed units by the highest-ranked officer at your location.""I say again, attention to all units; we have received intel on the sighting of a Flood occurence less than five kilometers southeast from our destination. The current Code Red protocol will be overseen by Internal Security while the rest, both military and civilian personnel will both enter combat-ready within the next twenty mike. Each will be organised by an officer of at least the Lieutenant-rank nearest to you. Military equipments and ordnance will be provided to any unarmed units by the highest-ranked officer at your location."<

Nuel halted just right outside the information resource centre as he snapped his head up to the radio announcement.

「 F**k, what now? 」

Ding!

_____

[ Crisis Mission : The Flood ] (New!): A Flood phenomenon has occured less than 5 kilometers southeast from the destination; the outpost and poses a serious risk towards everyone onboard as well as the inhabitants of the outpost should they get caught in it.

The intel received by the higher-ups reports the details of the Flood as follows :

- Flood Phenomenon -

Species : Necrobiote | Size : 10,000

Crisis Zone Occupation :

.

Lend your assistance towards either the army, or the outpost's militia and gain as much contribution point, , as you could to obtain a special reward, which will be determined according to the progress of each listed below.

Requirement :

i) Join the army's suppression squads to protect the , or volunteer to be a guard at one of .

ii) Help out at the , or at the .

iii) Help out at the , or at the

Progress :

i) Combat contribution : 0 ( +1 per 1 × Lv 1 kill or its equivalent )

ii) Medical contribution : 0 ( +5 per light wound treated or its equivalent )

iii) Logistic contribution : 0 ( +2 per 0.5kg light ammo resupplied or its equivalent )

Rewards :

• Bonus +0.02 per .

• × 1 (loot grade depends on CP as shown below).

CP required:

• Common ( Low Quality \ Normal Quality \ High Quality ) : 5 \ 15 \ 25.

• Uncommon ( Low Quality \ Normal Quality \ High Quality ) : 20 \ 50 \80.

• Rare ( Low Quality \ Normal Quality \ High Quality ) : 65 \ 115 \ 165.

• Epic ( Low Quality \ Normal Quality \ High Quality ) : 140 \ 210 \ 280.

• Legendary ( Low Quality \ Normal Quality \ High Quality ) : 245 \ 335 \ 425.

• Mythic ( Low Quality \ Normal Quality \ High Quality ) : 380 \ 490 \ 600.

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「 I-Is this for real? Another mission right away? Another Crisis mission at that??? Can't take a f**king breather, huh? Whatever, I'm still bleeding my HP away right now, first I need to pull a healing item from the Mission reward, any healing item would do... 」

Nuel quickly slipped into the IRC and scrolled down into the [ Mission ] tab, one of the completed missions had the as its reward, if he was not mistaken.

「 Hopefully it's a f**king health item... 」

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Do you wish to receive the for the [ Dungeon Mission : Rescue the Civilians ] now?

- Y / N -

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「 Yes. 」

_____

Calculating reward.

Please wait for a moment_

Calculation complete.

You have received +7.5.

You have received × 2.

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A pair of items materialised in front of him, the familiar bluish lights interweaved and solidified as it took the shape of something cylindrical.

Clenching his fist, he picked up one of the two spray cans and immediately after, its usage information appeared almost miraculously in his mind.

「 Ooh, that never feels normal. It really is like the time I hold the rusty pliers for the first time too. I see, I see... 」

He propped himself onto the swivel chair as he unequipped the hospital robe he wore underneath the exosuit from the [ Equipment ] tab - fortunately his naked skin was hidden in the darkness.

He checked his bleeding laceration wounds at his arms, torso and legs as he reached for the cylindrical object lying on the floor.

「 This bit here is quite awful... 」

The usual holographic hovered above his hand holding the as his allowed his hands to move according to the guidance of the system.

He uncapped the aerosol can and directly sprayed it onto the wounds; a cooling and numbing sensation plied at his skin gently as the ripped fleshes were covered in thin, foamy substance, which slowly hardened over time and was able to stop the bleeding, albeit barely.

After one can was emptied, Nuel reached for the second one and repeated the auto-treatment on his stomach and thighs.

Ding!

_____

× 2 have been successfully applied.

The Damage-over-Time is reduced by 30%. The development would be negated.

You have gained some proficiency in .

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Nuel closed his eyes as he let his body settle down and regenerate his [ HP ], [ STA ], [ Psion ] and [ Sanity ] stats back to max.

Although he could not entirely remove the current bleeding debuff, he was able to nullify the more serious Cardiac Arrest debuff development.

「 Just my luck, I guess...? 」

He re-equipped his slightly torn and bloody hospital robe on and stored the two emptied cans away into the exosuit's back storage compartment.

「 So, now what? 」

.....