SCT-Novel Eternal Ground Pounding and the Third Apocalypse.
Eternal Ground Pounding and the Third Apocalypse.
Eternal Ground Pounding and the Third Apocalypse.
The year ended and I gained my just rewards. Not only the five levels from the quest but also another four from crafting giant robots.
> You gained 9 levels! +252 Intelligence (In), +225 Wisdom (Ws), +252 Willpower (Wp), +180 Clarity (Cl), and +162 Hardness (Hd). You have 225 Attribute Points.
> You learned the Perk, Eyes of the Fruit God: Double the reach of your Domain Beacons and increase the angle to 45 degrees.
> You learned the Perk, Chaos Ward: Inside your Domain, change only happens if you allow it. Preventing a phenomenon costs DM proportional to its strength.
On a whim, I put those 225 points in Wisdom. Just because it would bump my Domain and I was giddy about that new Perk. Those weren't the omniscient [Eyes of the Tree God] but I'll take it. My Domain extended ridiculously large now. 21 miles long, and the cone was 17 miles wide at the end. If I cast a beacon straight down into the ground, I could sense a good length into the magma underneath the planet's crust.
The blimps felt crowded now. Each blimp could see four blimps away in each direction, and my scanning to remove volcanic dust and ash from the air went much better. The ozone layer above Australia was back to 1970s levels and the risk of UV radiation was over. I swept with my beacons underneath the crust, filling up some faults and fixing imperfections in the tectonic plate.
I could restore Australia to its pristine form before Western humans ever set foot on this land. I held back because the country was about to become a battlefield.
*
*
They were coming.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. No. I was scared and panicking. My first instinct was to fly away in my jetpack-enabled personal Mecha, Risky Roulette. Eight Armagellykulls floated over the ocean, crossing over Indonesia and the Philippines. Another three came over the Indian Ocean, probably crossing from the Middle East. Walking over the ocean bed, I could sense some massive Infernali I hadn't met yet.
It had a flat back with hundreds of spiral tubes growing out of it. An egg-shaped head with no protruding features, sunken eyes, and a mouth that ran half the length of the front, with square teeth and no lips. It made it seem like the creepiest grin ever. Its eight legs looked like an elephant's but the beast was massive. I could fit six or eight Jabberwocks on its back, each tube was a hundred feet long, and the monster stood some three hundred feet tall and wide by six hundred long. Six of these were moving toward Australia. Judging by how much their feet sank into the ocean floor, they were also super heavy and massive. They didn't care about stealth as most of them had at least the tubes out of the water.
Slow, too. I made sure to consider that in my strategy.
I issue a recall order to all Guardians and used the beacons to teleport the ones further away back to base. Rta and the Rangers went to the command facility in the base, while the Ranger apprentices, 323 in total, went to the land train near Speranza. Nineteen each for me and the Rangers, they would pilot the sub-pieces of our combiners, to lend their Attributes. They were only level 70 or so, but any boost was a boost.
The Galaxy Defender combiner gained a huge upgrade, due to the combat telemetry and live test data we gathered. Their performance improved by about 40% from the original prototype. We would field seventeen such combiners, against the massive World Bosses that were about to climb on the shores of Australia. My evolution and leveling also helped a lot. My Attributes were about 60% bigger than before. That, combined with the technological improvements, made my personal Mech work 124% better than before. On top of that, I now interfaced directly with the machine, reducing command lag.
It had to be enough.
We deployed the robots and started our combination sequences. The Guardians cheered. If things went well, they wouldn't have to fight at all. I focused on the sky. Thousands of rockets floated a mile above the ground, ready to be aimed and shot at their targets. I had prepared enough, this time. A pang of guilt flashed in my skin, reminding me I could've done more if I hadn't stopped to play with animals and traps. it was worthless worrying about that now.
The Magnawalkers, as I decided to call the new World Boss type, climbed out of the ocean. It would still take them several minutes to reach the shores but the sea there was shallow. They roared loudly, parting their mouths to reveal a tentacled tongue inside. Then I understood what the tubes were for. They bulged at the bottom and pulsed, spitting a black ball in a ballistic trajectory. Hundreds of them out of every monster. These were the artillery-type World Bosses. Let's see who has the better fire coverage.
The blimps opened fire. 450kW lasers heated these projectiles until they burst open. Something kicked the shells toward the lasers and used the momentum to fly away. The lasers tracked the movement and opened fire.
There's no such thing as dodging beams of light. The creatures screeched. Most of them burned up but a lot touched the ground and started to run. They were... squirrels?
Yeah. Squirrels. But not the cute little forest critters we often found in Granny Wilson's backyard in my childhood. No. These were forty feet tall and as fast as a Formula One racing car. They darted and dodged, trying to avoid the lasers' line of fire. Most of them died, however.
> For killing level 175 Gravisquirrel, you gained 16 Experience points.
[...] 675 similar messages were suppressed.
> For killing level 800 World Boss, Magnawalker, in a party, you gained 48,000 Experience. You are the MVP. You gained 50 Attribute points.
The Ranger Apprentices that were piloting with me all gained 2 levels as well. They were the top of their Class on the graduation exam, elites who would soon get their own Galaxy Defender and crew to pilot.
Without wasting time, I teleported another five times, using the fact the dead monster projected no aura to install a trap underneath my Mecha. The wounded monsters were defenseless against me.
> For killing level 800 World Boss, Magnawalker, in a party, you gained 48,000 Experience. You are the MVP. You gained 50 Attribute points.
[...] 4 similar messages were suppressed.
> You gained 12 levels! +336 Intelligence (In), +300 Wisdom (Ws), +336 Willpower (Wp), +240 Clarity (Cl), and +216 Hardness (Hd). You have 300 Attribute Points.
> You have a new Sub-Class slot.
> You reached the Fifth Threshold. For this landmark level only, you gained +20% to all Attributes' Efficiency ratings.
> You gained the Perk, Consecrated Ground: Your Domain hurts Demons and Heretics. If they fail a Willpower contest, they take sqrt(Wisdom + Willpower+Clarity) damage every 10 seconds. Each damage tick requires a separate contest.
> One obsolete Perk was converted into 5% Attribute Efficiency.
> You gained the Perk, Empower Trap: Pay 100% extra DM when creating a trap. This trap gains a 50% boost to one of its parameters.
> You gained the Perk, World Cataclysm: Enemies caught in weather phenomena created by your hurtful things suffer a 25% combat penalty.
> You gained the Perk, Hardened Munitions: Your ordnance adds half your armor rating to their own if it is advantageous. This has no effect on the usefulness of the ordnance.
> You gained the Perk, Beast Boss: You may convert an animal into a boss. It gains an extra 20 levels.
> You gained the Perk, Divine Overclock: Machines infused with your Divinity do their job 40% faster. The infusion lasts 1 month per point of Divinity invested.
> You gained the Perk, Holy Aura: Creatures who would have a direct line of sight to your true form are awestruck. Allies gain a 20% combat bonus, while enemies gain a 35% combat penalty.
> You gained the Perk, Overclock Factory: You can use Divine Overclock on factories.
> You gained the Perk, Bigger is better: Your Mecha gains a 2% combat bonus for every 5% it is larger than an enemy in the longest dimension.
> You gained the Perk, Psionic EMP: You can project an omnidirectional blast of psychic electricity that damages nearby machines up to sqrt(Willpower) yards away. The start point is anywhere in your Domain.
> You gained the Perk, Hardened Staff: Your staff has your armor rating or its own, whichever is higher.
> You gained the Perk, Enchanting Focus: Your staff of power lets you enchant 40% faster.
> You gained the Perk, Enlarge Einherjar: You can double an einherjar's size for 1,000 DM. This size increase lasts for a day.
Fuck yeah. Level 202 baby!