Chapter 72: Team One’s Day in the Office
Marcus pushed open the next door but behind it was just another empty hallway. Doors to the left and right led to empty offices. “I don’t like this.” He said and Ben walked next to him, his bastard sword glowed in an ominous light. “I agree. It is night and all but we should have seen somebody by now. And half of these offices do not even have furniture.” Ben said and slowly walked into the hallway. Janette covered their back and they advanced further into the office area.
At first they had moved quickly and cleared out the first floor. But now on the second floor they had started to move ever slower. It was a subconscious behavior to walk slowly and to inspect everything more carefully when you have the feeling you are walking into a trap. And this definitely did feel like a trap.
The second floor was also empty and they moved on to the third floor. The floors seemed to have the same layout and it was not difficult to find the next staircase to the third floor. Ben walked up the first steps looking up the staircase, but there was nothing. “All clear.” he said and Janette followed him but stopped to see why Marcus was staying behind. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked at the wall. “Problem?” she asked but he shook his head. “It is nothing.” Marcus said and followed her. The staircase one floor down had looked different, there had been a window at- Pain exploded in Marcus’ chest and he felt all strength draining from his body. 20 centimeter of steel were sticking out of his chest, exactly where his heart was. Marcus fell to the ground and the sword wielder stepped over his motionless body. “One rat down.”
Janette had turned the moment she heard Marcus moaning in pain and just saw him falling down with a sword sticking out of his chest. The enemy class holder, a tall man with no hair and a smile like a frog moved closer only to vanish in an instant. “Where is he!” Ben shouted his blade ready and his eyes furious with rage. Janette did not move and neither had the ugly bastard, she knew. She could no longer see him but thanks to Hunter Sight she could still “feel” him.
Sneaky son of a bitch, some kind of invisibility? No, he would have moved. Illusion then. Still, Janette made no effort to move. “What! HOW! ARGHHHHHHH” and a fleshy sound followed. The illusion of the empty staircase beneath Janette and Ben vanished and instead Marcus stood behind the enemy with the remains of his head in hands. The corpse dropped to the floor and Marcus cursed. “I just got this new armor and now there is already a big cut in it.”
“WHAT did just happen! You were dead just now, you had a sword through your heart!” Ben shouted and Janette agreed. “Good to know, even stabbing your heart does not kill you.” she said and turned to the completely freaked out Ben “Right you would not know yet. Marcus is nearly immortal now.” While Ben tried to understand what was going on Marcus inspected the blade of the assassin. It had cut through his armor and his high vitality body like nothing. “What do you think, is it enchanted?” He asked without looking up. Ben who had gotten a quick info dump about Marcus, was now calmer but still stared at Marcus. “Let me have a look at it. But the whole coming back from the dead thing is not yet off the table.” the young man said and took the long sword, with the red blade, in his hand.
Ben closed his eyes and moved it around for a moment. “Yes it is enchanted, can’t tell what it is but I can feel a slight variation to what it should be.” As a Weapon Master he had a special insight into weapons to the point that even the small changes coming from enchantments did not escape his notice. “This is an extremely dangerous weapon. I would not mind taking it as my main if that is okay for you.” He said and the other two just nodded. He dropped his old sword and swung his new main weapon around few times. “You gonna leave that here?” Janette asked. “I’m not really attached to weapons. Eventually I will have my own fully formed Soul Weapon so all other weapons are just stepping stones.” They left towards the higher floors, knowing enemies were waiting for them. “By the way what was that guy?” Marcus asked as they moved up “I think an Illusionist (rank 67) and his illusion was pretty good. Must have been fairly high level.” Janette said and Marcus shrugged his shoulders “Died pretty fast…”
The third floor was one big cubical nightmare. A large office space from one end of the floor to the other only with a few small rooms for toilets and coffee making. The room was divided by subsections with half high walls and as they walked through it they could hear the tortured souls of the office workers who had to suffer here day by day. “Imagine you would have to work here every day for the rest of your life.” Janette said and shivered. “I thought this kind of thing had been abandoned years ago. What a sadist would hurt people with this hellscape?” Marcus shook his head. They walked on the main path through the cubicles and saw pictures of families on desks and calendars with beautiful beaches as a motive. “Maybe we should perform an exorcism and burn the place down.” Janette said and Marcus answered with a short made up prayer. Ben was not amused. “How can you two make jokes in this situation!” he looked tense and his hands were sweaty. “So we do not end up like you. Overly stressed and too worked up to think straight.” Janette said with a smile, that Ben could not see under her helmet. As they moved on, they could hear a loud explosion from somewhere in the large building. “That sounded like Elena” Ben said.
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They entered the next staircase and slowly moved up. “You know they are waiting for us up there.” Marcus said and the others nodded. No way that one guy was all they had in wait. They knew we were coming and given the level of the first guy, this will not be easy. Marcus went in first, and this was also a full floor office space but a localized hurricane had turned it into a garbage dump. Desks, chairs, PCs, the dividing walls all things were lying around as if a horde of oversize toddlers had ravaged the place. Marcus made hand signs and slowly made his way on the left while Ben moved on the right side and Janette hang back with her weapon ready to go.
Moving forward was difficult in this situation and that was the purpose, Marcus knew. At the end of the large room was a larger pile of stuff that formed somewhat a wall. They are waiting for us to get into perfect range. “Ben, fall back.” He said over com and also started to walk back. They got back to Janette and Marcus said “Let’s not play their little game.” He pointed at Janette’s machine gun and then at the wall of garbage. Janette smiled, Marcus just knew what made her happy.
The men stepped a meter away from her and the barrel of her gun came up and unleashed a torrent of death and destruction. The garbage wall might stop them from seeing what was behind but it definitely did not stop machine gun bullets. The hail of bullets tore through the wall and after two seconds Ben moved with great speed, striking at something in Janette’s back. She stopped shooting and turned around. A long metal spike had grown out of the wall behind her and nearly pierced her. Ben’s new blade had cut the spike in two. “Earth Blood! Keep moving don’t stand still.” Marcus shouted and started charging the now torn garbage wall.
This is bad! You never ever want to fight an Earth Blood in a building. All the stone and metal can become their weapon and their shield. Basically everything around them was deadly from now on, Marcus thought. A stone spike shot out just a few centimeter in front of him and he avoided it only just. Ben was way faster than him and had already crossed half the room. Janette jumped, rolled and shot bursts where ever she expected an enemy and eventually there was movement. Two people ran with surprising speed through the garbage on the ground. The left one reminded Marcus of a ghoul, in his movement and also in the fact that he was barefoot. That’s the Earth Blood, they need a physical connection to the medium they want to influence. The other enemy, a small man in gray armor, moved towards Ben who prepared to strike but suddenly fell down screaming in agonizing pain. A Defiler? Wrong, no hand movement. “Janette! Help Ben” he said and engaged the Earth Blood.
The wall to his left turned into a giant hand ready to grab him but he smashed it with Impulse Hammer and did not slow down. He jumped over a broken table and part of the ceiling formed a wall and he hit his head on it, falling down like a wet sack of potatoes. He instantly rolled to the side and several stone spikes formed next to him. He pulled himself up on a broken chair and moved on. Something wet and sticky was on his hand but he had not time to think. Janette’s gun was going hard but the other enemy was avoiding her with lightning quick movement. Ben was still down and screaming. There was not time to avoid damage!
Marcus charged the Earth Blood and another spike shot from the ground cutting his leg and another. He did not stop and the enemy was only a few meter away as Marcus stepped into a nest of metal poles. The ghoulish enemy moved his hands to the ground, touching some of the metal parts, and a moment later the metal twisted into a cage that tightened around Marcus. Metal thorns grew from the cage and cut into his armor. The thorns did nothing and the enemy changed to crushing him with the metal cage. Marcus pushed Carapace to the max and it reacted to the outside force and the cage exploded into a thousand pieces. One of it hit the Earth Blood in the chest and he staggered. Before he had recovered Marcus hand reached him and Impulse Hammer threw him on the ground. He landed hard only to see Marcus’ foot coming down ending his life in a thunderous stomp.
Marcus turned and ran climbed towards the strangely agile enemy. “I need to reload!” Janette said and the moment her suppressing fire stopped the enemy ignored her and Ben and moved to Marcus.
Marcus could feel the gaze of the enemy on him and his whole body started to ache but he did not stop moving. The last enemy jumped back and Marcus could tell this was not what he had planed. Marcus moved after the guy and ignored the pain while the enemy finally decided to get offensive. He drew a short sword and then charged. Marcus was happy to receive the bastard with max Carapace. The swing of the blade was fast, nearly as fast as Pierre’s but the result was a scream, and a blade flying through the room. The blade had only left a minor cut on Marcus’ body but the enemy’s hand looked in bad shape and the pain on Marcus’ body had also vanished. “What are-” the guy started but was riddled with holes for ignoring Janette even one second too long.
“Ben!” Marcus shouted and left Janette the task of confirming the kill. Marcus reached Ben and removed his helmet. His skin and eyes looked red and he was only barely breathing. Marcus took out one of the potions, Cullen had given all of them, and emptied it into Ben’s mouth. Slowly, with every breath Ben became calmer and his breath steadier. He did not speak but his eyes found Marcus and he gave Ben one more red potion.
“The guy is dead. I think that was a Blood Mage.” Janette said. Blood Boil was the base ability of a Blood Mage and would explain Ben’s condition. Of course Marcus large vitality made him far more resistant to this kind of effect. Marcus looked at the stuff on his hand and realized it was blood. He stood up and looked around the room. “Did he turn the whole room into a blood circle? But that would have taken a huge amount of blood.” Although it would explain why he had been so powerful. With Oath of Blood a Blood Mage can empower individuals or turn a large area into a buff zone. “It sure does. I think I need to puke.” Janette said standing next to the wall of garbage. Marcus followed her and found a pile of corpses. Men and women with office attire, drained of blood and dignity.
