RhaegarRRL
patreon
Chapter 29 Burning
🕑 Added 2021-11-13 20:42:50 +0000 UTCPDF/EPUB: https://www.patreon.com/posts/58373886
Chapter 29 Burning
Kate grabbed her radio and pressed the send button. “Back at the castle. Testing if this thing still works,” she said. She opened the armory door and helped Grey inside, Logan following behind.
Melusine already rushed down the stairs and looked at them. “Are you injured?”
“I don’t know, smoke and fire maybe. Nothing else I think,” Kate said. “Let’s go up first. Did you hear the radio?”
“Ethan told us you’re back, nothing else,” Jon said from behind, making way for them to come up.
Kate found the entire group awake, wide eyed, and tense. She wordlessly moved Grey over to the bed and sat him down. “We walked through the fires. I didn’t even notice the heat at first. Do we have oxygen?”
“No. We don’t,” Melusine said. “Let me check him.”
Kate let her work her magic, or her medical skills. Herself turning away and sitting down with one of the bedrolls supporting her back. She took in a deep breath, trying to figure out if she herself had breathed in too much smoke. I should have. We all should have. “You didn’t run into any trouble on the way back?”
Jon had his arms crossed, pacing from one side of the room to the other, Eloise and Celeste sitting together in their corner. Bert sat on the chair, shotgun on his lap. Allison looked at the monster pieces they had gotten, herself sitting on top of a glass showcase.
“We saw monsters,” Jon said. “But they were as confused as we are. When the jets arrived… everything fled. We ran the last bit. As long as we could. But the military. This means-”
“It means this is the extent of their help. For now. Maybe forever,” Logan said, opening the straps on his armor. “Can someone help me with this?”
Allison looked up and walked over. She yelped when she touched the armor. “Jesus, did you put this thing into a forge?”
“We walked through the river,” Kate said. She opened her eyes wide when she saw the breast plate come off.
Logan grunted, his shirt half scorched with burns showing below.
“Shit,” Kate murmured but Melusine was already on it.
“Don’t move for now,” she said, giving him a look before she opened one of the cabinets, now filled with well sorted medical supplies. She opened a few cartons before she handed a set of pills to the man. “Swallow.”
He did.
“Oh this wouldn’t be good,” Melusine murmured, starting to apply a set of creams to his chest, arms, and back. She looked through bandages as Allison helped remove the rest of Logan’s armor, his entire body showing severe burns.
“I’m… sorry,” Kate murmured. She looked at him and lightly shook her head. How is he standing?
“Don’t look at me like that. The pain is manageable,” he said. “We have magic, and bandages. I’ll be fine. Kate, look at me.”
She did.
“I’ll be fine. It’s not your fault. We had to get out of there. We did,” he said, looking around the room. “That one looks fine,” he said and pointed at one of the large swords displayed next to a set of other weapons.
“I said don’t move, Logan,” Melusine said, a pin in her mouth as she applied the first bandage.
Grey coughed.
“Grey raise your hand if you can’t breathe,” Melusine said, glancing his way for a moment before she continued treating Logan. “Kate, get him the sword so he puts down his arm.”
She shook her head and forced herself to stand up, quickly opening the showcase and retrieving the large sword. Kate lifted it with one hand, handing it to the man in a way that would help him support his own weight.
He grunted. “A walking stick.” A smile.
“Don’t pass out now,” Melusine said.
He did.
Kate took a step forward and caught the heavy man with both her hands, keeping him up as easily as one would hold a child.
Melusine looked at her with wide eyes, the sword clattering to the ground. “C… can you hold him like this?”
Kate nodded. I’m sorry, Logan.
“Perfect. Let me finish up his waist and legs, then we can lay him down,” Melusine said. “Allison that cream. All over. If you can.”
“Seen worse,” Allison said. “Is he still alive?”
Melusine put a hand below his nose. “Yes.” She continued her work in silence.
Jon had joined his daughters, distracting them as the scene commenced. Kate thought they were all rather calm for the situation. Perhaps just the past few days helping them adjust. No. She could feel her own lips quiver, her arms shaking lightly.
“Kate. Tell me when you can’t lift him anymore,” Melusine said in a calm voice, not even looking at her. “And look at the wall. Focus on one spot.”
She did as the nurse said, focusing on her stance and arms. “I’m fine,” she said. She wasn’t.
“He’s gonna look like a fucking mummy,” Allison said before she snickered.
Melusine chuckled. “Focus, woman.”
“Ay, ay,” Allison said. “You should teach me what you’re doing by the way. I’m not going out there again with those fucking monsters. Might as well make myself useful in the medical camp.”
Melusine started explaining the process, what the cream did, what the burns did, which pills she gave to the man, how much, and why.
Kate didn’t hear most of it, her ears ringing as she focused on a small black spot on the stone wall. Everything is on fire. They won’t come. We’re here. In Keilberg fucking castle, and they won’t come. This is it.
“Grey, still there?” Melusine asked. “Don’t talk, raise a finger if you can.”
He did.
“It’s a good thing you all leveled up your Vitality. With these kinds of burns, I’m surprised any of you made it out alive,” Melusine said as she finished up the bandages. “We’re going to set him down now. Grey, if you can, move out of the bed. Logan needs it more. Kate, move him. Carefully.”
Kate did as the nurse said. She focused on her steps and made sure not to hit anything in the way with the large man. Moving one hand below his shoulders and one below his knees, she steadied herself and raised him up. Grey had gotten out of bed with the help of Jon, Kate slowly putting down the unconscious Logan.
“Fucking hell, you’re strong,” Allison said.
“It’s the magic,” Kate said. “I know I couldn’t lift him like this.”
“Maybe I should invest in some Strength as well,” the woman murmured next to her.
Kate ignored her, looking at the bandaged head of Logan.
The radio cracked. “Orcs… at the gate…” came Ethan’s voice. The radio cracked again and then went silent.
“You stay the fuck down,” Kate said as she saw Grey try and sit up, coughing with the attempt. She grabbed her hammer when she looked at the assortment of weapons. A battle axe stood out to her. Entirely too unwieldy, but she grabbed it anyway. “I’ll be right back.”
“I didn’t check you yet,” Melusine said.
“I’m fine,” Kate said and walked past with one weapon in each hand. “Lock the door behind me.” She walked down the stairs, checking the open messages still in the corner of her vision.
‘ding’ ‘Mindless Ferocity reaches lvl 18’
‘ding’ ‘Reckless Charge reaches lvl 14’
‘ding’ ‘Courage of the Unarmored reaches lvl 14’
‘ding’ ‘Intimidating Presence reaches lvl 5’
‘ding’ ‘Silent Striker reaches lvl 7’
Serenity +1
‘ding’ ‘Frightening Growl reaches lvl 4’
‘ding’ ‘Heightened Hearing reaches lvl 9’
‘ding’ ‘You have unlocked the passive skill: Echo Location – lvl 1
Passive: Echo Location – lvl 1
Your ability to orient yourself with the help of echoing sound is increased dramatically. Use sound waves to find your way. You may deactivate this effect if needed.
Why the fuck not, she thought as she closed the door to the armory below, already hearing explosions of fire coming from beyond the gate. Kate started running, going directly to the left and up the tower. She kept herself hidden and listened for Ethan, hearing him hide behind the battlements. An arrow struck the wood. Good. Keep distracting them. She jumped down to the side, grunting lightly as the weight of the impact went through her knees. Her Echo Location she already deactivated, finding it disorienting at best.
Crouched, she made her way around the castle and to the front. The sky remained a dark red, though the night had reclaimed some of its domain. She could still make out the group of orcs and the three goblins aiding them. Two of the former were injured, only three of the five armed at all. Shit for you. I’m having a bad day.
She didn’t wait, putting down her hammer before she raised the large battle axe above her head. Stepping back like she used to with her fire axe, she used her whole body and threw the thing forward. The weight felt about the same, but compared to the already heavy axe she used to throw at the mock competitions, this thing was a massive axe made for war.
It didn’t even finish a full rotation before it struck one of the armed orcs in its side, the steel embedding itself with a wet sound before the creature tumbled once and fell to its knees.
Kate growled, five steps bringing her to the goblins. Three strikes finished the frightened creatures. She smelled piss as she turned to the remaining four orcs. “Leave us alone,” she said through gritted teeth, deflecting a frenzied sword strike before she stomped on the ground. Her knee came up to strike the disoriented orc, a wave of sound coming from her throat in a strange whistle. Her hammer struck the second creature that rushed her, teeth and blood flinging to the side. She grabbed one of her knives and stuck it into the face of the monster before her.
Moving on, she broke the last armed orc’s leg, then slammed her hammer down onto its skull. She watched one of the last two orcs go up in flames when a fireball hit its back.
The last one held its arm, blood trailing from one of its eyes with burns showing on its chest. It looked to one of the swords on the ground.
Kate stepped onto the blade as she heard the last groan from the dying orc behind her. She growled, watching the injured creature glance between her and the forest. It chose wisely, stumbling into the darkness with loud panting sounds coming from its injured throat. She turned around and smashed the burning orc’s head, moving to the one clutching at the knife stuck in its face before she brought her hammer down. She wanted to scream, wanted to smash them to bits. Furious Dance remained inactive. She wondered if she should hunt down the last orc. It would die out there anyway.
She stood there and breathed, smelling the burning air, the burning flesh. She grunted and grabbed the corpse by its leg, groaning as she moved her body and flung its corpse into the line of trees. Kate removed the battle axe from the near split creature before she threw the bodies away from the gate, as far as she could. She looked into the underbrush, clicking her tongue as she activated her Echo Location.
Coupled with her enhanced hearing, it felt like a 3D plan of the surroundings came to her mind. Disorienting, but clear at the same time. As if she saw through a sense she’d always had. Then she puked. Fucking shit. She grit her teeth, not hearing anything other than the shuffling steps of the injured orc, departing farther until he was gone from her perception.
“Are… are you alright?” Ethan’s voice came from above, a downright whisper.
She took in a deep breath, smelling blood, burnt hair, the forest. Fire. Here we stand. And here we remain.
Again she looked into the forest. Again she heard and saw nothing else. Kate took in a deep breath before she looked up, seeing Ethan twitch just a little. “I’m better,” she said. “Can you open… wait, let me try actually.” She knew her Hunting Leap increased by 0.25m per level, meaning at her current level four, she was at three meters with a full charge. The walls of the castle were about four meters high, but she had her arms as well.
“Anyone in the courtyard?” she asked.
Ethan checked and shook his head.
Kate grabbed the bloodied battle axe and threw it over the wall. She stepped back and ran towards the wall, charging her ability before she jumped. Power flowed through her legs and muscles, propelling her upwards before she grabbed onto the side of the stone battlements. She threw up her hammer and grabbed on with her other arm, pulling herself up with one swift motion. She downright leaped over the stone and collected her weapon, turning to see a wide eyed Ethan watch her.
He raised his hands. “I… just watching, ma’am.”
She smiled and looked out towards the yard, seeing the battle axe lying on the ground. “Tell them we’re fine.”
Ethan froze before he whirled into action, rushing over to the wood covered section right above the gate. He grabbed the radio and talked. “We… we’re fine. The monsters are… ah… dead. Nobody injured… wait are you injured?”
She gave him a look.
“Nobody injured. Fine. Over, I mean,” he said and stopped sending.
“Thanks,” Kate said as she leaned against the stone railing, looking out into the night. She turned her head to look his way. “Mind if I stay out here for a while?”
“No ma’am, of course not ma’am,” Ethan said quickly.
“Can you stop calling me ma’am? I’m Kate,” she said, walking past him and towards the northernmost part of the castle. The bit of the wall that overlooked the Willow River far below, and the valley beyond.
“Of course m… Kate, sure,” he said and looked to the ground, gulping before he smiled. He glanced up at her. “That was… that was sick.”
“Thanks for the fireball,” she said.
“Any time, Kate, ma’am,” he said and gave her a thumbs up. “And no fire in the castle. Promise.”
She gave him a glance before she looked at the valley she had once called her home. “Yeah, there’s plenty of that around.”
Kate looked at her bloodied hammer, most of it still covered in soot. She found a spot a little removed from the gate and sat down, feeling the cool wind brush through her hair. Fresh blood and sweat mixed with that from her time in the cavern. She looked at the distant fires, some of it still spreading, other sections seemingly calming down. The Henner Forest on the other side of the valley was near fully engulfed in flames.
She remembered the dry summer a few years back. Two, maybe three years past. The entire brigade had to embark to put out a fire in that damn forest. We even got air support, she thought with a smile, giggling to herself as she watched the burning valley.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked.
She turned her head to see the man standing at the corner of the battlements. “Why wouldn’t I be,” she asked with a smile.
“The mad cackling. You sound like someone in a horror movie, losing their mind or something,” he said.
“Who knows,” she said, shaking her head lightly. “I mean look at this,” she added, turning her gaze towards the valley.
Ethan walked a few steps closer and rested his arms on the cold stone. He grinned from ear to ear. “Fucking beautiful,” he muttered.
“Who’s mad now?” she asked.
“All those fuckers are dead now. The hordes you saw. Humanity, man,” he said. “Badass.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s kind of nice looking, you have to admit that. Come on, even as a firefighter,” Ethan said.
“I’m not a fan, honestly,” Kate said. “It looked nice enough before.”
“Yeah… but this is a one time thing. A one time fire. Trees hundreds of years old, houses, fields, all burning down. All ashes. Fuck it all,” he said and spread his arms.
She sighed, taking in a deep breath before she closed her eyes. Fuck it all.
“Right, Jon asks if we need anything,” he said.
“I puked up my food again,” Kate said, more to herself. “Some coffee would be nice too.”
“Shouldn’t you sleep at some point?” Ethan asked.
“Fuck off, fire boy,” Kate said.
“Sure, ma’am,” he said and walked away, whistling a tune to himself before he talked into the radio.
She heard every word but ignored it, instead looking out onto the seas of fire. The last wild breath of humanity, against a changing tide.
Kate checked the messages from the short battle, finding some of her skills had leveled up.
‘ding’ ‘Shattering Step reaches lvl 3’
‘ding’ ‘Toll for the Living reaches lvl 15’
‘ding’ ‘Two Handed Weapon Fighting reaches lvl 14’
‘ding’ ‘Intimidating Presence reaches lvl 6’
‘ding’ ‘Frightening Growl reaches lvl 5’
‘ding’ ‘Bewildering Wave reaches lvl 3’
Guess I was injured after all. Interesting.
It didn’t take long until Eloise reached her, the young woman sheepishly handing her an insulated bottle and a few sandwiches. “Melusine asked if she could check on you.”
Kate glanced at her and took the food. “Thanks. If she wants to, I’m here.”
The girl smiled and nodded before rushing back.
Kate opened the bottle, calming down a little when she smelled the coffee. She took a sip and turned her attention back to the fires.
That’s a lot of work out there.
I hope some of the others made it.
Kate Lindgren
Unspent stat points: 0
Class: Berserker – lvl 13
- Active: Mindless Ferocity – lvl 18
- Active: Furious Dance – lvl 16
- Active: Reckless Charge – lvl 14
- Active: Hunting Leap – lvl 4
- Active: Shattering Step – lvl 3
- Passive: Toll for the Living – lvl 15
- Passive: Courage of the Unarmored – lvl 14
- Passive: Two Handed Weapon Fighting – lvl 14
- Passive: Unrelenting Carnage – lvl 4
- Passive: Intimidating Presence – lvl 6
Support class: Silent Striker – lvl 7
- Active: Frightening Growl – lvl 5
- Active: Bewildering Wave – lvl 3
- Active:
- Passive: Heightened Hearing – lvl 9
- Passive: Echo Location – lvl 1
- Passive:
Status:
Vitality: 23
Endurance: 17
Perseverance: 13
Strength: 17
Dexterity: 8
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 10
Serenity: 7
Equipment:
Torso: -
Legs: -
Trinket: -
Food: -
Comments
Shaoraka
They be ded tho, the fighter jet was described as getting destroyed by a wyvern. Unless there were several and the others escaped ofc.
mike
That's a really interesting question. Do the aircraft pilots get full, partial or no experience from their bombing runs? I wonder how much experience a knight would get from a monster their horse trampled to death? Maybe a few hundred chapters from now Kate will get a chance to talk to an attack helicopter pilot or someone similar and we can find out more lol
lol I can see the ah fans eyes twitch when they read this
mike
The link in this post has links to pdfs of all the chapters, one of them is chapters 1-23 in a big bundle.
Rainer
That may or may not be true. She could have fallen through a hole that was a symptom to what caused the apocalypse. The actual cause could have taken a few years to progress and complete
Roethan
If the timing is how I understood it, Ilea was sucked through a portal as a result of this apocalypse. That would mean Kate and Co. Have a couple years to go before Ilea can make an entrance. That's assuming Ilea returns to earth soonish and that these two stories are actually from the same universe. For now the system is a little different but that could be based on the world, so we'll see.
Katherine
On the bright side, think of all the level ups those fighters got from napalming the valley.
M van Dongen
Can you make an index post with linkees to all chapters of this ?
White Neko Knight
Honestly, I'd rather see how non-magical earth reacts to Ilea. I'd love to see how some of the "superpowers" react to a person that can utterly ignore a nuke.
Jachin Nelson
Unless it took a while for Mana to leak into the world through the Ilea shaped hole in the universe
Rainer
At the point where Ilea would have gone, it would no longer be system apocalypse.... it would be the new way of life
Martin Brandel
Not me sorry, I hate system apocqlipses, it would ruin AH for me
Clarence Bassanini
Of course. With a toggle on/off based on coffee. But seeing lines like "Silent. Quiet. Kill." when she's under her skills influence, the animalistic growls she has at time, and her slowly increasingly barbaric attitude, willingly or not, is still a treat.
Straven
Thank you for all the chapters, loving this stories development and the characters.
Rainer
Is anyone else really wishing Ilea goes back to earth to find this madness? And at some point meets up with Kate?
Rainer
Or a mix.... 2+2... And 1 of either swapped each week..
Rainer
She's not a normal berserker though. She can kind of control it.
Bridie
I wish we were getting 4 of this story a week and 1 of AZ ;)
Andrew
Thank you!
Clarence Bassanini
I really, really like this story. There's something unique reading about a berserker's state of mind. Kate is an extremely interesting character.
Oxykon
TFTC!
Jackson Ragland
Very cool
BeepBoop
So close for a skill to reach lvl 20!
