Shirtaloon
patreon
Chapter 958: A Lot Harder Than Anticipated
🕑 Added 2024-10-23 22:00:05 +0000 UTCIlyin found his passage up the elevator shaft discomforting, lifted as if by a disembodied hand. It didn’t help that, to grab him, Asano had suppressed Ilyin’s aura first. Reaching the surface, he passed through the hole his team had jackhammered to access the elevator shaft. It was in a warehouse that had been built right over the bunker system.
They had cleared some space on first arriving in the warehouse, and more room had been made now. Shelves stacked with construction materials meant little to gold-rank strength, and several gold-rankers were present. Normally that would have set Ilyin on edge, but he had bigger issues to deal with today.
If the gold rankers wanted to make Ilyin’s life hard, all they would have to do was push out with their powerful auras. In Ilyin’s experience, gold-rankers liked to throw their weight around, with auras being a favourite way to do that. This group had theirs retracted, leaving just enough to announce their presence. These auras were also smooth in a way he wasn’t used to. Ilyin focused on one gold ranker, kneeling over Team One.
“You a healer?” he asked the man.
“Yeah,” the man said. “You their commander?”
His no-nonsense tone and failure to look up was comforting to Ilyin. He’d met combat medics before, and the sense of familiarity at the attitude was a comfort on a day that had gone to hell eight different ways.
“I am,” Ilyin said.
“Neil Davone,” the man introduced himself. “Your people will be alright, but the vampires left them with a lot of the lesser vampirism curse. Jason cleaned it out before it took hold and turned them, but you’re looking at real recovery time here, whatever magic you use.”
“Thank you.”
***
The concrete storage room lit up as Travis entered, a glow stone floating over his head. His escort, Humphrey, nodded to Jason. Aside from the three men, the only things in the room were a large crate and some ominous stains that glistened in the light. They mostly covered the floor, but also painted sections of the walls and ceiling. Travis gave them a leery glance as he moved to the crate. The wood gave way to his silver-rank strength without resistance as he tore the crate to pieces, casually tossing them aside to look at the contents.
“Yeah, this is a nuke,” he said. “Some minimal magical enhancement, but inexpertly done, and some time ago at that. Too faded to offer any measurable performance increase at this stage.”
“Does that matter?” Jason asked. “We’re talking about a nuclear weapon.”
“It matters,” Travis said. “Setting off a conventional nuke deep underground, in a magically reinforced bunker, will do massive damage with a nasty radioactive aftermath. But a magically enhanced nuke, going off on the surface? It’s the difference between Melbourne being devastated, and Melbourne being gone.”
Jason nodded.
“Neither is a great option, but I take your point. It’s in our hands now, though, so we won’t let either of those scenarios happen.”
“Do you want me to destroy it? Or you could feed it to your cloud flask.” Travis asked.
“Disable it but leave it intact. Anna wants me to hand it over to the Australian government.”
“Aren’t they the ones who sent mercenaries down here in the first place?” Humphrey asked.
“It’s complicated,” Jason said. “Anna thinks that the Prime Minister won’t last after this, and helping the government save face will improve relations with whoever replaces him. So, leave something to hand over, but make sure it isn’t operable, and never will be again.”
“I can do that,” Travis said. “One of my abilities lets me play around with material for creating weapons. I can render the fissile material inert.”
“Thanks. Humphrey, keep an eye on him while…”
They all turned as Colin entered in his blood clone form, looking like a red-eyed Jason. There were four of him. Below diamond rank, he couldn’t permanently expand his biomass, but he could do so temporarily, if he fed on enough life energy. At gold-rank, that that temporary lasted longer than before, and consuming a vampire lord had loaded his reserves nicely.
Jason had sent Colin and his extra bodies on the hunt through the complex. Now they returned, each carrying bodies slumped over their shoulders. Colin lowered them to the ground, setting them out in a line.
“There are people here,” he said. “A lot of people.”
Jason, Travis and Humphrey came over observe the corpses.
“They look homeless,” Jason said. “There are a lot of them down here, you say? I can sense something out there, but it’s unclear. I certainly didn’t pick up on a bunch of homeless people.”
“They had something inside them,” Colin said. “It was controlling them, making them stronger.”
“Sounds like when the Builder shoved clockwork cores in people,” Humphrey said. “Make them stronger and turned them into unwilling slaves.”
“I can feel the thing inside them, if I get close,” Colin said. “I can leech it out of them. Devour it. That’s what I did to these people. They died, but not immediately. If we had a healer, maybe they could save them.”
Jason looked up from the corpses and put a hand on Colin’s shoulder.
“You really are a good boy.”
Colin’s bashful smile looked odd when he had Jason’s face.
“I’ll fetch Neil down here,” Humphrey said.
“I’ll bring the others from the ship,” Jason said. “Just the team is fine if we’re hunting vampires in the dark, but if there’s a bunch of puppeteered victims we can potentially save, we’ll want all hands on deck. Especially the healers.”
***
The bodies had been moved from the storage chamber with the nuclear weapon to the large central chamber of the complex. Three of the corpses had been placed inside ritual circles and complex patterns of light were now floating over them. The patterns meant nothing to Jason, but there was a group of magical healers peering at them, muttering between themselves. Along with Carlos and Neil were Arabelle Remore, Claire Adeah, from Rick Geller’s team, and Sigrid Volaire, who was both Prince Valdis’ team healer and wife.
Their teams were present as well, but not yet moving out. Until they knew if the enemies Colin reported were victims that could potentially be saved, they didn’t want to move into the deeper reaches of the complex. The entrances were being watched by Humphrey’s summons, who looked like human-sized golems made of bone, garbed in ornate blue and gold armour.
At gold rank, Humphrey’s Spartoi power could call up a hundred of the dragon tooth warriors. They weren’t up to the task of defeating an elite adventurer of their rank, but were perfect for battling enemy minions or when a large security force was required. Right now, they were securing the room against potential intrusion and patrolling nearby tunnels and chambers. It allowed the adventurers to gather and discuss without needing to watch the entrances, while waiting for the healers to be done. Once they were, Carlos gathered everyone together.
“It would appear that Colin’s postulation is accurate,” he explained. “It seems we’re dealing with some kind of monster or other entity that can implant victims with organic material that controls them and floods them with power. Think of it like being affected by a spirit coin for an extended period, giving them a temporary false rank.”
“As you’d imagine,” Neil said, picking up the explanation, “that is very bad for you. The good news is, it looks like these are normal-rank people. As with using spirit coins, the less magic you have of your own, the less severe the conflict between it and the introduced magic. Our best estimate is that there are a few more hours before whatever has happened to these people will kill them outright.”
“Our recommendation is to split into four groups,” Carlos said. “We have four teams here, and Colin has four bodies right now. Having Colin extract whatever this is from the victims will be critical to keeping them alive. Colin, how long can you maintain those extra bodies?”
“So long as I can feed on more of the things implanted in these people, then indefinitely.”
“Then let’s get going,” Carlos said. “I’ll set up a triage station here, using the dragon tooth warriors to secure our foothold in the complex.”
“I’ll send a small contingent of them with each team, as well,” Humphrey announced. “If you manage to free and stabilise any victims, the warriors can ferry them back here. Danielle, Farrah; you don’t have teams here, so you hold this area with the warriors in case something they can’t handle slips past us. Whatever we’re up against, it can hide from our senses and let its victims do the same.”
Danielle looked amused at her son, in expedition leader mode, referring to her by name. She said nothing, happy that he was even capable of issuing her orders. She’d been worried, when he was younger, that timidity would prevent his natural charisma from transferring into the potential she saw for him as a leader. That had continued right up until he stalled out in the attempt to reach gold rank, but he had ultimately found his inner dragon.
Jason, Rick Geller and Valdis all had their teams present. On Arabelle’s team was her husband, along with Emir and his wife Constance, who had frequently taken the place of original team member Callum Morse. Constance had trained with Callum on her own path to gold rank, before the full extent of his instability had shown. Now, Cal returned to the team, restoring the full original lineup while keeping Constance as well.
Callum was far more stable than when Jason had known him years earlier, during his obsessive searching for Sophie’s mother. The ability to visit her in Jason’s soul realm, plus years of therapy with Arabelle, had spurred his recovery. As he was the best hunter on any of the teams, he would be a useful presence in the group.
The four teams moved out, linked by Jason’s interface. His abilities enhanced the System to which they now all had access, not only allowing them to communicate, but also create a shared map of the complex as they explored it.
***
“How many homeless people did they bring down here?” Jason muttered. Colin’s leeches fell away from the latest group of victims, who dropped like puppets with cut strings as the force controlled them was removed. Jason caught them with his aura before they slumped to the ground, floating them over to where Neil was already drawing out a healing ritual.
“It does seem strange that this many people could be brought down here unnoticed,” Humphrey said.
“Homeless people might as well be invisible,” Jason said. “We spend so much time deliberately overlooking them that we don’t notice when they go missing.”
“We try to avoid that in Pallimustus,” Zara said. “A large, exploitable population invites vampires, necromancers or something worse to do just that. Your world will need to address this problem as the magic here rises.”
Rick’s voice came through the group chat.
“We just ran into some vampires. They fought like those other homeless people, which makes sense given that Colin said that they were being puppeteered. No skill, just trying to rush us down.”
The normal people were boosted all the way to silver rank, which was nothing to the gold rankers. The challenge was not in winning the fights but in disabling their opponents so that Colin could excise the power controlling them. Some had to be fended off with enough violence that they didn’t survive, while others were too far gone. The magic boosting their rank had done too much damage already.
“Did you manage to take the vampires alive?” Neil asked. “Or what passes for alive for vampires?”
“No,” Rick answered. “Claire says the vamps have too much magic. Whatever is being done to these people kills the vampires outright, the moment Colin takes it out of them.”
“Why are they even controlling vampires?” Gabriel wondered. “Did the vampires not put whatever is down here in place?”
“A question for when we’ve figured out what we’re up against,” Humphrey said. “For now, we keep to the task at hand.”
Neil directed Humphrey’s Spartoi to take the latest batch of victims back to Carlos and his triage centre. At the same time, he sent a voice chat.
“Carlos, take a look at the bodies that didn’t make it. Some of them are dying and I’m not sure why. It tends to be the ones with improved physiques, so I’m thinking maybe they’re blood servants. I don’t have time for a more thorough examination.”
“I’ll take a look,” Carlos answered back.
***
The blood oak had a squirming and moaning body on the end of each limb. It used them as weapons, caustic blood bursting from them in clouds of mist that left gaping wounds. It used them as shields, soaking up attacks from Emir and his team. It even used them as potions, draining the life from them to heal itself.
Gabriel’s sword blazed with fire as it slashed at the tree-like creature. The blood oak intercepted with a dangling body, but it exploded, showing the room in chunks of flesh and viscera. The limb holding it was severed, the stump left burning. Another body shrivelled like a juice box being drained by an aggressively thirsty child. The limb grew back, and the flames were quenched as sticky red liquid coated the bark-like skin.
The blood oak tossed all the bodies it had left. They exploded into red, caustic mist that forced the adventurers back, if only for moment. The creature seized that moment to escape, sliding into a broken pipe like a snake and disappearing into the wall.
Callum dashed forward while conjuring a rat into his hand, then set it loose into the pipe to give chase.
“We just had an encounter,” Emir reported over the group chat. “It slipped away into a pipe.”
“We need a way to pin it down,” Rick said. “It just keeps throwing victims at us. I don’t want to have to kill them all before we can corner it.”
“At least it seems to be contained in this complex,” Jason said. “I think the bunker system is fully contained. With the elevator shaft guarded, the only other way out is the access point the vampires used. If it’s still running around, that means it either hasn’t found that exit, or couldn’t get past the barrier Clive put on it.”
“Callum is tracking the creature,” Emir said, even as Callum conjured more rats and sent them into the pipe. “Hopefully we can hunt the thing down, whatever it is.”
“We may have a line on figuring what it is,” Rick said. “We’ve found some kind of magical laboratory. We’re checking to see if there’s anything we can use to stop it.”
“Only take a quick look,” Humphrey said. “If there’s nothing obvious, get back to the hunt. The what, how and why we can get to later.”
***
The blood oak was no match for four gold-rank adventuring teams in a fight, but proved devilishly elusive. Unable to escape, it resorted to hit-and-run tactics that led to almost a dozen encounters before it was finally slain. It might have managed to whittle down a few members of the teams if they each hadn’t had a powerful healer on hand.
In the end, it was the combination of Callum and Jason that killed it. Callum’s conjured rats mapped out the pipe network and allowed him to start predicting the blood oak’s patterns. He finally had Jason move to anticipate one of its ambushes, allowing him to get enough afflictions on it that it crawled off to die. In the end, Colin in leech swarm mode crawled to where it had died and devoured it, bringing back a small sample.
The teams converged in the laboratory that Rick had found. It was a large space and, unlike anywhere else in the complex, fully outfitted. The walls had been sealed and sterilised, with functional lighting and power installed. A contained plumbing system and multiple large generators were set up in an adjacent utility room.
The lab itself had multiple rooms, looking halfway between an alchemist lab and a medical research centre. One room had heavily reinforced glass with a heavy security door, now open. The inside contained what looked like old vines, tangled around skeletons stripped down to nothing but stained bones. There were a couple of fresh bodies in the main lab area, looking like every drop of moisture had been drained out of them.
“You think the vampires made that thing?” Neil asked.
“Maybe,” Jason said. “Clive, can you and Travis figure out what they were doing here?”
“We can try,” Clive said.
“Try hard,” Jason said. “That one creature took four gold-rank adventuring teams over an hour to hunt down. If this wasn’t a sealed space, it would have escaped, and easily. We need to know if this was the only one, or if the vampires have more of them. If they do, that will make dealing with them a lot harder than anticipated.”
“That’s a nasty thought,” Neil said. “Imagine a whole nest of these things, hidden under a city. Almost impossible to detect, even harder to trap when you do manage it.”
“Emir,” Humphrey said. “Callum is the best tracker here. Have your team sweep the complex for leftover victims, or indications that there was more than one of these things. Rick, go escort Travis to this lab. Jason, this is going to be a huge mess. You should start coordinating with local authorities.”
“On it,” Jason said.
“Jason,” Travis said through voice chat. “See if you can find someone whose computer skills aren’t twenty years out of date to go through the systems in that lab. At this point, I don’t know if we could boot up a laptop between us. Assuming they still have laptops.”
“Good thinking,” Jason said. “I’ll see if I can rustle up someone trustworthy.”
Comments
Morgan Smidt
I was thinking Emi, tbh
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Frederick
I was thinking something similar, but with him being one of those rats and backed into a corner, gifted a nuke by Jason, he might resort to extreme measures.
Bear
I think other gordon is done. This was his last ditch effort and now jason being the most powerful being on the planet with a team of the other most powe r ful people on the planet... all other gordon can do is run away to regroup with the other rats that want jason gone
Kconraw
Thx for the chapter
Kelly
@Roro That’s helpful. And yeah, I remember that explanation but because there’s nothing quite like it in reality it’s still hard to wrap my brain around. Maybe a Batman/Robin relationship? Still fictional, but more like an adoption situation.
Michael Uhlinger
Collin really is a good boy
Frederick
Prediction: Other Gordon tries to use the now disabled nuke to blow Jason up.
Remy Gramont
Picture stash and colin doing a side quest because theyre basically silver rank adventurers at this point. Colin can use most of jasons abilities. Wonder if stash can too or if hed just shapechange
Frederick
I'm sure they know better than to poke their heads up too soon
Frederick
Add biometric and magical login... the computers might self-wipe before they are even touched. Imagine trying to figure out why you can't get into an iPhone while not understanding Apple's Face ID 😒
StarkRG
Yeah, we really don't need several chapters of play-by-play battle descriptions, especially when it boils down to "Colin ate them starting with their faces" or "they spent several hours tracking down their prey using rats." When there's a battle worth our time to see in detail (and Shirt's to write), we will.
Bombans
Ehh, by the time we got to the dota battle between jason and the great astral beings, i’m done with combat descriptions unless the fight is super important. The showing I care about is all the talking.
CritHappens
For me that was one of the funniest and my favourite part of that book. Would love to see that scene on tv. The incompetence of those guys and the banter was hilarious.
Bryan Jackson
No, the gold rankers that broke into the cloud house were sent by someone unknown (to Jason) for internal political reasons (ie someone wanted to get rid of them in such a way that blowback wouldn't come back on them). Liara told Jason this when he portaled back to Rimaros to pick up his winnings from the duel with Hector de Varco.
Andromeda Adams
He did eat that World Eater Worm Queen. Which helped him become a voice of the will.
SomeGuyWhoReads
Rufus is coming… obv
TechB
"...The blood oak had a squirming and moaning body on the end of each limb..." Image - https://i.imgur.com/zCJFH9N.png
Vincent Ciavone
I wanna see Jason mapping places with shade and more extensions of shade with the system, like I feel since he became a shadow of the hegemon, that should give him some abilities to work with the system. And then Jason could have like a 50 spare shade bodies mapping out the place
Rachel Clements
TYFTC!
Brady Clegg
I love this story! And I agree, I just want to feel more in the story instead of feeling like we’re skipping ahead
Anthony Sebastian
People take "Show, don't tell" too much to heart. Telling has its place, and often gives its own insights that showing cannot. In this case, it's showing the disparity in power between the Pallimustus adventurers and the vampires, as well as the difference in experience between Pallimustus and Earth. This isn't "rushing the good stuff"; this is highlighting how routine something like this is for Palli adventurers and how effective they are. More intense battles will come later; this isn't meant to be one of them, and extending it would have only dragged the pace unnecessarily.
ABTelford
I’m sorry to say I agree - I love the story and I want to feel like I’m living it like in the earlier books - the show don’t tell mentioned above. If Shirtaloon needs to take a year revising to achieve that I’d be happy to wait.
Squirtle
I'm glad you mentioned why normal rankers don't get as hurt by spirit coin usage. I've seen people complain about how using a gold coin at bronze put Sophie down for the count for a few days, but Jason seemed relatively fine using a couple at normal rank.
Squirtle
Wasn't it Killian Laurent or his brother's doing? Or am I reading into it too much?
Dirty Dibbler
I may be misremembering, but wasn’t it the guy who helped Cole Silver kidnap Jason and try to implant him with a star seed? Same guy who tried to assassinate Jason right after Colin became his voice
Vincent Ciavone
I don’t understand why people are complaining. Jason’s return to earth is equivalent to the coughing baby vs. atomic bomb meme. He brought some of the best gold rankers from Pallimustus; plus having just gotten out of what a 15-20 year battle with cosmic deities, it’s gonna be a sweep of earth. We’re getting story, and being shown the characters capabilities in different ways. If this was drawn out and showed a bunch of different hit and run encounters, we’d be reading about this battle for like 2 weeks
Tommy S
I miss not having more Shade :(
Tommy S
I don't think they ever came up again, I thought I recall them coming from a different continent.
Laura Hemly
I clearly recall Gary asking, "They don't still use airplanes, do they?" while flying to Australia in the Taika-carried saucer. Implying they use something more advanced. So the Asano Clan may have people who've created quantum molecular-level computers, or so.ething equally super-advanced. I'm just saying don't count them as being behind the rest of the world; they may be well ahead of it!
Laura Hemly
He is! The team has known him all his life, and now that he's a Voice of the Will, he can contribute more than just eating! people (although that's still his favorite activity). We're seeing him post-throne unsundering, and don't forget, Jason learned a vast amount about how to partner better with all his familiars.
Terry Bell
Off Topic question: I am feeding my addiction by going through another reread...lol. Does anyone remember the core-gold rank team that broke into Jason's Cloud house when Jason was at the Palace Ball? Did we ever find out who sent them or did i miss it? I was talking to Clives wife and she couldn't remember.
Laura Hemly
Belinda has the best curses, very creative. My favorite curse is used often in Dungeon Crawler Carl -- "By his left tit!" I keep wondering *whose* left tit it is, and why not his right? 😆
Laura Hemly
No, you read it right. I noticed the same thing. Presumably it will be. sorted out in editing.
Terrence White
Past few chapters were thrilling, but I agree with other commenters that we could slow the pace down and spend more time in this section. I want to see the battles.
Brady Clegg
Please get back to showing instead of telling. For most of book 12 and now this it feels like we are rushing everything…We all love this story and want to be in the story, not told the summary of what happened. Stop rushing the good stuff and please let us have the blood oak battle in full detail
Kismet
Chef's kiss 💋
Kismet
Colin, our apocalypse beast with a heart of gold & the stomach of a super massive black hole. I for one am glad he has finally had, what appears to be, a satisfying meal.
StarkRG
I don't think it's so much about booting the laptop as operating it. Finding a power button or switch wouldn't be too difficult, but I've seen people have trouble figuring out how to close a window in Linux even though it's basically the same concept as on Windows and Mac (a button in the top right corner of the window), having a 20-year gap in exposure to UI conventions would be larger than that.
Russell Ventimeglia
Shade at diamond? Unlimited bodies and what else?
LapsedMemory
So at the end of 956, the blood oak has team 3. In 957, team 3 is free, team 2 is hanging from the blood oak. Was that a typo or is team 3 infected? (Or are my reading comprehension skills crap?)
TheCrazyDuck
If you think back twenty years and how much our technology has improved since then and then introduce magic into the equation, the changes can easily be astronoical.
David
It’s funny, it just doesn’t make sense. Being rusty is one thing. Completely forgetting wheat they knew about technology with magically enhanced minds is ridiculous.
TheCrazyDuck
It's funny to think that Jason possibly can't figure out how to boot up a laptop anymore.
DirePants
I like that the writing style is branching out with the story. Notice the wording has changed to fit the tone of a dark vampire infested underground bunker and the team getting very tactical. In comparable situations Shirt didn’t do this. But in general this whole book thus far has carried a different tone at times. Not a bad thing mind you. It’s an enhancement but not because the other style was bad but because this style was fitting. 😁
Sam J
Earth human society, we are F'ed and have been for a long time.
C0bra$
Thank u for the story almost
Philipp Battenberg
I have to agree. Though the cynic in me realized that a bloodthirsty apocalypse beast cares more about homeless people than human society...
Philipp Battenberg
Yeah, such small things really enrich the story in subtle, but significant, ways. Just like Pallimustan(?) curses. "By the Healer's smoking herbs!"
Philipp Battenberg
@Blake That would make perfect banter material between Colin and Shade, with Colin proclaiming his superiority as he has more bodies than Shade.
Bastian
Cradle mention lets gooooooo
Philipp Battenberg
Yeah, it's quoted in fiction a few times. Baldur's Gate 2 used the abyss part of that quote.
Andromeda Adams
Tyftc! How cute is Colin?! He really is a good boy!
StarkRG
He said that his mental ability between the forms remains the same but in the swarm form it's spread out and dedicated to controlling all his bodies. Even if he can temporarily increase his biomass to create multiple blood clone forms, his mental ability will still be divided among them, diminishing its effectiveness.
Philipp Battenberg
@Kevari: Or self-built magitech weaponry.
Preston Stokes
Bring on Gary!!
StarkRG
I definitely could have sworn he had essences, but maybe I'm misremembering.
Philipp Battenberg
@Laura but it's if they advanced too far and/or a different direction, then it would be quite problematic as well. Gary would be a big maybe, but they want someone actually tech savvy and not someone on thd "can use a computer" skill level, so Anna and the ministers are not suitable. Either it's a side character we have totally forgotten about who pops up, something Shirt likes to do, or it's a new character/off-screen. We have rarely seen after battle cleanup personnel.
JonO
Ugh I've been missing some damming stuff lol. Oh well, other Gordon and the vamps both suck. Both metaphorically, and literally.
Justin Oliver
Gary!
Samuel Strode
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you”. - is attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche.
Samuel Strode
Agreed
Samuel Strode
Onslow I have the biscuits… when he went to the bakery three books ago when Jason went back to earth
Samuel Strode
Biscuits every child needs them…
Yongwoo Huh
Book 3 Epilogue Chapter 7
Joanna
And I went and looked up the difference between fissile and fissionable, because I'd only heard the latter before. Turns out fissile is slightly more specific, and the right word to use here. (Fissionable means capable of being induced to undergo fission at all, fissile means capable of it specifically with relatively low energy input, like the difference between U-238 and U-235.)
Joanna
No, the vamps specifically mentioned letting the blood oak loose, so it's definitely their thing, just don't know if it's a one-off or there are lots of them about. I agree about Other Gordon, though
Joanna
I have no idea what golden fleece you're referring to. Autocorrect, maybe?
Joanna
It's in one of the followup chapters at the end of book three, not sure which though
Ian Nickle
One of the epilogue chapters book 3
Joanna
Jason has Shade spread out over the planet looking for where the vampires might have nukes hidden. I'm guessing Callum's rats are a more localized resource than that
Liesmith
I think Humphrey and Orthos would be bros.
Liesmith
He's a good boy.
KollegvomMirgan
Tftc
Justin
Yeah but it’s not the same
Blake N.
Colin started off with multiple bodies at all times
Blake N.
Yeah, I was a bit confused why only callum was scouting when Jason is also very good at that
Bryan Jackson
Technically that was Jason's second death
Ant
I'm envisioning a loonytunes type situation. The big fish goes to eat smaller fish, only to have small fish open huge mouth and reverse the situation. Sub Colin in for smaller fish...
Kevari
This comment brought Castlevania Abridged to my attention. My thanks, gentlemen 🙏🏾
Kevari
Dope handle @#savagegarytheleonid
Kevari
I might be wrong but I believe Shade has his own inventory/storage space, it’s not connected to Jason’s. Colin’s the one that shares Jason’s powers in his Jason-clone form
Kevari
Yea, he’s around 13-14 so normal rank. Only offensive “magic” he can probably use is his roar, which is a Leonid racial trait so I doubt he needs essences for it
Cam
I didn’t even think about out of date computer skills! Thanks shirt!
Kevari
Please tell me you remember which book cuz now I have to go back and read it
ItsFin
I hope we get more gordon speaking too.
Kevari
211
Laura Hemly
They may have advanced further and faster than everywhere else, too. The Asano Clan has the best and the brightest, after all.
Iain Grubb
Do we have a definitive number on how many Shade bodies there are at Gold rank?
Laura Hemly
But he carried that nuke in a backpack, not his inventory.
Jennifer Leigh
He's not even 15 yet, right? I know he's been doing magitech stuff but does he have essences?
Laura Hemly
Stash and Onslow's raid on the bakery for biscuits right after Jason's first death is still one of the funniest scenes in the entire series! 😂😂
Chiqui Joy
I believe that nuke was carried as a backpack. There were multiple mentions of how heavy the pack was
Chiqui Joy
Bashful Colin 🥰
Roro
It was once explained (don’t remember in what bk) that both Colin and Gordon were ‘born’ when Jason first summoned them, compared to Shade that is so ancient he is older than time. So the way I think about it is that Colin and Gordon have essentially been raised by Jason from infancy and that has created a more parent-child dynamic (sort of like Humphrey and Stash, though I get the sense of a more older-younger brother dynamic with those two especially since Stash has parents already and is a diff type of familiar). Anyhow, those differences help me reconcile the varied dynamics in my mind.
Roro
I noticed the (surprisingly) descent length too!
usa1ph
I really enjoyed the tactical excellence displayed this chapter
James NB
Fantastic chapters! Felt like they picked up on alot of threads and laid down even more
Kelly
I wish I understood the relationships between Jason and Colin/Gordon/Nic better. I think because of the Jason/Shade dynamic where it’s more of a partnership, I’m still not really grasping how the more parent/child ones work.
Aaron Van Wormer
I’m just been waiting for an astral gate fueled aura rampage for like 3 books now lol.
StarkRG
Yeah, there's also a reason those tests were done way out in the desert or on stolen islands whose inhabitants were forced to move.
StarkRG
I don't think a leech swarm consuming vampires would be a particularly epic battle.
Justin
I can’t wait until diamond rank Colin is like Shade and just has multiple bodies at all times
Frank Morgana
Wonder if any of hers can talk at gold rank
Frank Morgana
Yes. And Stash and Onslows adventures
Frank Morgana
Sick chapter Shirt! 4 gold tank teams adventuring. Exactly what we want.
StarkRG
I'm pretty sure Gary is at least Bronze rank.
granndfunk
I believe it to be a literary device he uses when we are supposed to understand the power differential in a given situation. By skipping a fight with a singular enemy, we understand it wasn't even a challenge. But, he mentions it would be tougher with a lot more, so we may be getting a single big fight or a series of skirmishes soon. I also think it allowed the chapter to have great pacing (as otherwise it would be split into more). However, I really want to see a single bonus chapter with everyone's new gold rank skills.
StarkRG
I do hope we get a familiars only adventure at some point. Something like Belinda's infiltration of the Order of Redeeming Light mountain complex, but something only the Biscuit familiars can handle.
Aaron Van Wormer
This series literally started with Jason killing small monsters by smashing them into the ground over and over again while naked lmao.
gator mate
tftc
Kaelan Spears
He got ate
Chad .
What did he call himself???? Todd?
Hayden Leech
But Jason pocketed a nuke and used in a vampy astral space. It’s why Shako got imprisoned.
MrCynical
Dunno about anyone that was in the aperture. They missed at least a decade of potential tech advancement from the rest of the world.
Tiffany Thompson
I love the interactions between Jason and Shade, Colin, or Gordon (especially Gordon 😭) I love them
Aaron Schwartz
He’s even constantly bugging his boss about wanting to go on walks
Monty Crisco
How exciting. Stains on the wall and floor is a great way to show the battle.
Soli116
@Alex That's what made me think of this.
Charles A. Pehl
Knowing this series gun or at least a conspiracy
Charles A. Pehl
And whatever Gordon can do at that stage. Reality assassin is a WILD title
Charles A. Pehl
Plus could be a case of auto detonation if moved.agic and nukes is a dangerous mix
Jean L. Philippe Jr.
I’m pretty sure this was explained last time Jason was on earth when he first met Travis in Germany. Travis explained that Nukes, magical nukes specifically had built in restrictions that made it impossible for people to slip them into their dimensional spaces so people couldn’t” just casually pocket a nuke”.
Gwiddion
My guess is he has to know where to look and that there is a possibility the target is warded or he gets discovered by other gold ranks (unlikely imo)
Gwiddion
Also unless Jason was alone this wouldn't rely have been a fight and it would have been multiple paragraphs of oak attacked and fled after it got to hard as is to be expected with 1v4-5 gold rankers
3rdImpact
Thanks for the chapter Shirtaloon. Really enjoyed it also I really appreciate the thoughts into the background and the current situation! Thanks allot
Nivyn
Possible edit: “The blood oak intercepted with a dangling body, but it exploded, showing the room in chunks of flesh and viscera. The limb holding it was severed, the stump left burning. “ I think you ment “showering” not “ showing” if I am wrong please disregard.
Hunter
I mean at Diamond rank he turns into a legitimate apocalypse beast so 3 clones is nothing for the good boy. Jason’s familiars are terrifying tho. Colin is a world killing monster that can’t die.
Alex Schellenberg
Length is nice, but what really gets me is one that is fast paced, action packed and cuddles me after.
Martin Tomsic
Aside from the mercs that Other Gordon hired and sent to their doom, I think Travis was the only silver down there. Though a normal rank Gary will likely be coming soon to help with the computers in the lab.
Martin Tomsic
"He Who Fights With Monsters" is a philosophical reference, not meant to be taken strictly literal.
Alex Schellenberg
Gold rank Colin has golden retriever energy
granndfunk
Aw, warms my heart to see people talk to Colin like he's just another adventurer.
Martin Tomsic
That would depend on how secure the bunker is. If the bunker gets blown to rubble, then there is nothing preventing the leakage of radiation to the city above and around it. If the bunker was strong enough to contain it without being destroyed, then it is just a matter of making sure that the bunker gets thoroughly sealed and doesn't deteriorate over the years.
Alex Schellenberg
Noerth hinted that he may have a way to prevent death hidden outside the Transformation zone.
Alex Schellenberg
Choir of the will.
Aaron Van Wormer
Why are we skipping so many fights with monsters in a book called He Who Fights With Monsters. Don’t get me wrong, good chapter. But I want to see some powers in action!
Larry Rohdes
Wow, Jason certainly has grown in character! He didn't try and do this all by himself. It was great to see Humphry in charge. Was Travis the only silver ranker down there?
Martin Tomsic
It'll likely be Gary. Emi is more magic than magitech and nobody else that we have been introduced to is both trustworthy and Earth tech savvy. Though this could also be a perfect scenario to introduce someone new from Earth for the group.
Martin Tomsic
I feel like it will be Gary since he seems pretty heavy into magitech. Emi feels more magic than tech, which is why she needed Gary's help with the cubes.
Hayden Leech
I’m suprised earth has only had the one necromancer problem.
Hayden Leech
Lord Louden lives on a farm upstate. He’s very happy there.
ONEsie
Even with all that world consuming hunger, he tries to save that initial group without direction. Good boy indeed!
Hayden Leech
So shade can place items/retrieve them from Jason’s inventory right? Even big items like cars. Why couldnt shade just slip into all of these suspected nuke hiding spots and simply grab all the nukes at once?
Adrian
In Collin's four(ty thousand) bellies
mhaj58
“Good thinking,” Jason said. “I’ll see if I can rustle up someone trustworthy.” Off the top of my head there’s Emi, Gary, Anna, the Ministers who went to Jason’s universe, and maybe Amy. Emi and Gary might not be completely capable of tuning nukes, Anna will be busy with liaisons, and Amy isn’t exactly trustworthy
ONEsie
With 5 skills per essence, maybe some kind of rat quintessence?
Scott McCarthy
Nigel and his team
Kyle Hunter
AND HERE COMES GARY WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!!!
ONEsie
😂
MakaBones
Yeah I enjoyed the length
#savegarytheleonid
nice
Laura Hemly
Colin ate him -- that's how he gained the amount of energy he needed to make three copies of himself. All that's left of him is some of the ominous stains on the walls of the nuke room.
Monty Crisco
Where's Lord Louden?
McCainOffensive
I was just about to comment this. I had head canoned Callum's essences as knife, adept, and smoke. But I don't know what his combo is now.
Brad Gammey
And he needs to banter with a villain where his response is "Neat.."
Brad Gammey
Colin is such a good boy.
GentlemanG33k
I have been thinking for a while Earth might have an undeath problem they don't have a restricted essence list and death would have been fairly common in the aftermath of a monster apocalypse
Stuart Thwaites
Are you kidding? I tried but it'd probably be easier to wring cola flavoured milk from a stone
ReadingObsessed
Love it! Think he'll grab Emi or someone not stuck in an astral space for the last decade?
Laura Hemly
Could Colin have found a more appropriate turn of phrase than to say, " I could leech it out of them..."?? That's just classic! I love the fact that Colin could make three temporary copies of himself so he could be more useful to the teams, too -- how amazing is it to have a helpful, cooperative apocalypse beast instead of just a creature with insatiable hunger? Colin really is the best good boy!!!
Joanna
I don’t know how up to date his computer skills would be either, growing up in the domains. I’m sure he’s a fast learner though
ShowBizGAL 1996
Did you at least get the airport staff to PAY for the new laptop??
PapaJohn
I was about to call bull on this… then I remembered that Jason once threatened the reaper with giving everyone an extra 10 lives when he sat on the throne😳😳
Izraifel
Colin's such a good boy!
Joanna
Oh god. That would suck in multiple ways. Too many of those guys survived already
Stuart Thwaites
Oh I know the feeling of suddenly not knowing how to use a computer. When I was 13, I moved to a VERY rural village in Bulgaria with my mother. 5 years later I return to the UK for college but my laptop was killed by airport staff and had to buy a new one. I went from a 5 year old operating system to the newest and I felt like a monkey smacking a typewriter hoping to hit just 1 correct key.
Dimitri
“Eat only bad people”
Justin Butler
4 voice of the will forms is insane.
Micah
There probably wouldn't be as much lethal radiation ir fallout at the surface for a normal modern warhead. We did underground testing for a reason (that reason being people objecting to fallout from above ground tests).
Soli116
Can you imagine how mad Jason would be if Todd the Necromancer used magic to escape permanent death in the transformation zone and this was his creation?
Bru-
I think they will probably complain when they get back.
Joshua Yinkey
Such a thematic monster for spooky season
CritHappens
I’m sure new Gary could sort out the tech stuff. Great chapter. Actually decent length too.
Zack
The raid team knew there was at least one gold rank something with good stealth, so my guess is Jason didn't want to risk it. They might come down to help with the investigation though, now that the danger is mostly passed
Creampuffwizard
So does Callum have the rat essence? I’d assume that would be where his stealth powers come from for his assassin power set. But that would also be fairly unexpected, just shows that any essence can be useful if he has it
Luke Scheffe
Shirt, Shirt, Shirt. You really think that magical consequences will be enough to get people to start caring about the homeless? Nothing short of Jason jumping back on the Cosmic Throne would be enough.
CAPTAINCAEL
some nukes use Tritium to boast the yield but Tritium only has a half life of 12 years also where golden fleece?
ABTelford
Great chapter! The beginning and end were really strong. I personally wanted a little more play-by-play of the fight/chase but what is here is good. Thanks Shirtaloon!
Samuel Strode
Emmi how are your computer skills
Rick Delallata
Chekhov's Gun or cool one off baddy?
Russell Ventimeglia
I’m a little surprised that Nick and Emi weren’t at least part of the raid group, with their specific advantages for larger groups
JonO
Again, Colin showing his good boy status. I don't think the vampires are involved....I think this is other Gordon's baby. He needs to die with it if so.
bryan ortiz
Thanks for the chapter!! On time almost to the freaking second.
Kathryn Lemay
Colin is such a good boy!!
Hemlock
Thanks again, shirt!
Austin
It’s (New) Gary Time
Aaron Schwartz
I’m still stuck on Collin being abridged Alucard. Can someone make fanart of Collin’s Voice of the Will form where if a shirt that says “BITCH I EAT PEOPLE!”
Martin Tomsic
Thank you for the chapter!!!
Soli116
" I can render the fissile material inert." I learned a new word today. Cool!
Bobby Baxter
Yes
Morson
Damn 13 likes in like 2 seconds
Morson
Biscuit
Mantiqore
Biscuit
Christian Chavez
Thank you
mhaj58
Biscuits
Brent
Biscuits. 2/2?
