Chapter 65

The Angel Express, Etson - 5:24 PM

A yawn escaped me as I ripped off the last piece of paper on my notepad and tossed it into the pile. It had taken me hours of work, but I had put a dent into my current project. Seven neat stacks of paper sat before me, one for each continent although the one for Antarctica was, admittedly, only a single paper. I grabbed one belonging to Europe and read it over.

Sheryl Robbins,

Paris, France

The Night Man is an illusion. Find the psion hiding in the bakery on Greneta and the nightmares plaguing the community will stop.

Best regards,

A friend

Setting it back down, I grabbed one from the South America pile.

Enrique Oliveira,

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Your coastline is eroding because of the birds. They’re pretty and entertaining, but you have to take them out.

Best regards,

A friend

Returning that one to the pile, I glanced at the lone paper in the Antarctica pile.

Nicolas Galleguillos,

Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica

The penguins are not your friends. They will eat you. Be a man and destroy them before they destroy you and their influence spreads.

Best regards,

A friend

Those damn penguins would become a nuisance, for sure. I sighed as I looked at the piles before me. It was worth the hours I spent on them. In previous runs I had sent various messages to different players across the globe with the help of the Dealer, but I’ve never sent this many at once before. The alligator had a way to make them invisible to the administrators that was pretty expensive, but well worth the cost.

In my best run, the 63rd run, had three hundred million survivors thanks to an aggressive letter campaign setting up early wins. Back then I had sent nearly one hundred messages worldwide, much to the dismay of the Dealer. In each run since I had sent out a few here and there, testing which ones provided the most gains and which ones worked best by themselves or with groups in cities around them.

I looked down at the one hundred and fifty letters in front of me and nodded approvingly. There was another hundred to write, but that would have to come later. I used a paper clip on each stack and stuffed them into my inventory where they would be safe from prying eyes.

With my gear all fixed thanks to the magical washing machine, I began heading out. Instead of leaving through the front gate, I headed around to the back of the warehouse to hop the fence and avoid the road. There, I saw a strange sight.

I failed to stifle a laugh as I saw Jeff and Corwin on the other side of the fence. The man was doing his best to lift the dog over and place him on top of a stack of pallets, but the good boy wasn’t having any of it. It wasn’t that the dog was too heavy, Corwin just didn’t want to be put down. As soon as I made a noise, Corwin looked at me and happily escaped from Jeff’s grasp, landing on the pallet.

“Oh, now it’s okay?” Jeff huffed, though it was in good nature.

“Of course, he’s a really good boy,” I cooed as the dog looked for ways to get down. Instead, I jumped onto the side of the stack and reached up to pet him behind the ears. “Aren’t you such a good boy? Yes, yes you are.”

“You leaving?” Jeff asked, staying on his side of the fence instead of joining me and the dog.

“Yeah, it’s time to go and see about getting the Etson Faithful involved in the war early,” I responded as I climbed up the rest of the way and sat down. Corwin did his best to lick my face, but I kept him occupied with my hands. “How did taking out the Bacon Shack boss go?”

“Was okay,” Jeff said while I looked him over. He had more cuts and scrapes than he had before, but nothing serious. A square on his face also looked like he had taken some kind of fire damage. “Got a little lost, helped a few people, finally found it. The Bacon Burner was a bit of a surprise. Like, you mentioned his cutlery and whatnot, but you failed to mention the flaming cheese squares he’d be tossing at me.”

I gave him an apologetic smile. “I knew you could handle it. Did you want to head back to the train? Or did you want to come with?”

“I’ll come with,” he said after a moment’s deliberation. “Did Kayla come back yet?”

“No, not yet. She’s probably still in the square.” Shifting onto my knees, I picked Corwin up and handed him over the fence to Jeff. Once the dog was secured, I jumped down to join them. “You got the sandwich, I take it? Skill book too, I’m guessing.”

Jeff nodded and chuckled. “Pocket Bacon, which now that I’m reminded of that…” Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he pulled out five slices of delightfully crisp bacon and outright devoured them. I could see the wounds on his body disappear. “Do we get fat anymore? Because I might not even wait until I need healing to use this skill.”

“No, Jeff, we don’t get fat anymore,” I laughed. Pocket Bacon was a skill with a thirty minute cooldown. It created bacon that healed the one eating it for 5% of their max hit points per slice. Up to five delicious, perfectly cooked strips were created that had to be eaten within thirty minutes of pulling it out or else they would turn into grease. It was handy for healing after combat or for a huge 50% boost in hit points if you timed the cooldown right and ate it before the thirty minutes were up by scarfing down ten pieces.

“That is fantastic news, my friend. Sorry about not offering any to you, but I needed to top up.”

I shook my head. “No worries, you know I have the belt. That plus time is really all I need.”

We began walking towards the Square. Corwin continued to sniff at Jeff’s pockets in the hopes that more bacon would be pulled, though I’m sure Kayla’s rule about feeding him people food was still in effect. What I wasn’t sure about was her husband’s adherence to that rule. Not that I would squeal, anyway.

“How did talking to Tommy go?” Jeff asked, resting his hand on Corwin’s head and scratching the dog behind the ears.

I waved my hand in the air. “It all ended well.”

“That sounds like there was a lot in the middle where things weren’t well, boss.”

“I wouldn’t say it wasn't well, just a headache,” I admitted. Phantom pain still lingered in my arm and chest, but it wasn’t worth mentioning to Jeff as it would pass in a while. “When I went to the Safari Resort, Thomas wasn’t there. Met with Gloria, and she’s doing well enough. Thomas went out to one of the more deadly places in town because of Francis and John. I went after them, thought they were inside a dungeon and had to clip inside.”

“Clip inside?” Jeff asked. “Like in a video game?”

“Yeah, you got it. Dug a hole, reached in to enter the dungeon, and then left it. Dungeon didn’t like that, so I got teleported back to the beginning.”

“Damn, this really is a video game, huh?”

“Eh, too real but basically,” I said with a shrug. “Turned out they weren’t in there and that a kid was trapped. He and his family went in there fleeing from the Juggernaut, they died early and he was stuck at the entrance for nearly two days.”

“Oh, shit. Is he okay?”

“No, he was still in shock by the time he left with the group, but the people at the Safari Resort will take good care of him.”

“Man, that’s heartbreaking,” Jeff said, and I nodded.

I bit back what I was really thinking. That’s just the way the world is. Instead, I looked around the city. We still had a ways to go before the Square. I didn’t expect to get ambushed so close to the train since only a few people knew we were staying there, but caution was always good. “Also, I have an assassin after me.”

Jeff quickly looked at me and, upon seeing that I was taking note of the rooftops, did the same. “Ninjas?” he asked quietly.

“Nah, not ninjas, though I’m sure those would come later depending on who I piss off,” I chuckled. “The Demonic Demon Pustibule has been resummoned, and he no longer wants the angelic splinter that Father Alexander saw in me. Now he just wants his scalpel back. The J. Wilson that took out the last Vespae Stronghold is Jeremiah Wilson, someone from up in Stanley.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Didn’t think you would. Stanley’s a big place, so I wasn’t optimistic. Either way, he’s got a sniper rifle that fires Vespae stingers. He got me in the chest, which I think was a fluke since John was running towards Thomas, Francis and I worried about an attack and hooting and hollering. Made him fire early.”

“I’m glad you survived that, Ant.”

“Me too,” I said, chuckling. “Almost didn’t. I still wasn’t fully healed from the dungeon yet and it took a lot out of me. If it weren’t for my stats, I would have been a goner.”

Jeff frowned. “You’re… really upbeat for someone who has a killer after them,” he mentioned. I could hear the worry clearly in his voice.

But I shrugged. “I’m surprised it’s happened so soon, but that’s it. I have ways to stop it when it happens again.”

“Is Kayla in danger?” Jeff asked. I smiled at his dedication to his wife’s safety.

“I can’t tell you no because this is the world we live in,” I said, waving my arm about. “But she’s not in danger from the sniper. Anyone they shoot that’s not me will give me time to prepare against their next shot. At some point Jeremiah might decide to go after others out of spite, but that also gives up the advantages of stealth he has. Plus, if Pustibule wants his scalpel back so badly that he’s willing to kill me over it, killing others isn’t going to make me want to give it up to him.”

Jeff grunted, but didn’t say anything. I could tell that my words hadn’t alleviated his fears by the look on his face, so I decided that it was time to change the subject. “Mind if I tell you about Evolution Hounds a bit?”

The fencer looked down at me, then at Corwin, and nodded. “Yeah. I still don’t want Corwin in combat or anything, but knowing more about him is nice.”

I nodded, understanding where he was coming from even though I didn’t completely agree with it. “So Evolution Hounds are basically the ultimate designer dogs and operate a lot like Digimon, funnily enough. They evolve when fed skill books, which will obviously destroy the book, but they get to keep the evolution forever. Once they eat their first skill book, then that’s the evolutionary line they can take.”

“So you mentioned turning Corwin into a demon dog.”

“Hell Hound or Cerberus,” I corrected. “From the skill books I have on hand, there are two ways to get to Hell Hound from the base and only one way to get to Cerberus.” Rummaging through my inventory, I pulled out the black Demonic Resistance skill book and the red Flaming Sword skill book. Corwin immediately stopped trying to sniff Jeff’s pockets as he stared at the books, but I handed them to his master.

“Okay, I’m with you so far,” he claimed as he took the books.

“So if you started him with the fire based skill book, he could end up as Hell Hound with a second application of the demon based skill book. If you started with the demon one, then he could branch into Hell Hound and Cerberus based on future skill books.”

“How many skill books does it take to fully evolve him?”

“Depends on the evolutionary line, but I’ve seen a robotic dog variant that go up to twenty five.”

Jeff whistled. “Robot dog, huh?”

“Kaiju sized robot dog,” I informed. “Started with a skill book that had to do with metal, and then kept feeding it gun skills and size increase skills and eventually a piloting skill so he could run around in a giant dog mech.”

“I think you’ve sold me on a robot dog,” Jeff said excitedly.

“It was cool, but I’m sad to say that the dog didn’t survive for very long after that,” I said. “He was just too big and the owner didn’t put enough into defensive skills, so it was a big glass cannon.”

“I no longer want a giant robot dog.”

“Understandable. I’ll be honest with you, I want to send you down the path of a Cerberus for Corwin.”

“Why’s that?” Jeff asked. “I mean, yeah, Cerberus are cool, but why that one specifically?”

“Because Cerberus are guard dogs, and they’ll have the hit points to back that up. They get a little bigger than a wolf, can breathe fire and are generally immune to fire based skills, and their only real weakness is divine energy which only comes from angels. We’re not going to be antagonizing that particular group, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Jeff looked from Corwin to me. “Antagonizing angels was an option?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. It had been an option I explored, but the payoff was far too little for me to try again. “I’m just saying, is all.”

“Okay,” Jeff responded, though he didn’t look sure. “So how does this whole… Digimon thing work. Like, I know about it, but I never watched or played it.”

“So you like Corwin in this cute little yellow form he’s got, right?”

“Of course, he’s so adorable and yellow.”

“He’ll mostly be stuck in this form,” I said. “It’s a little unwieldy to explain, but I’ll do my best. Evolution Hounds can transform between their forms at will, though staying in higher forms takes up more energy and they wear themselves out, right? So here at zero skill books, this is his form. At one skill book, he’ll have the form that dictates his evolutionary path. So he eats the fire book, he’ll probably change colors and emit heat and can make his teeth light on fire for extra damage. If he eats the demon book, then his fur will probably turn dark, he’ll get a bit bigger though not by much, and be resistant to a lot of the more common elements.”

Nodding along, Jeff shifted the books so that they were under his arm and started petting Corwin. We passed by another party of people, but we gave each other a wide berth and a small wave. “What about others? Like, I don’t know, a water based skill book, or the Explosive Thrust skill book. Maybe some kind of Vespae based one?”

“So water would start him off closer to a Newfoundland, but would put him on the path to have scales, a fish tail, the ability to breath underwater, likely a water-based breath attack,” I said, staring up at the sky as I attempted to remember. “Explosive Thrust or similar technique based books would give him the ability to use weapons and form armor around his body. Technique based Evolution Hounds get… weird, and are the most likely to become humanoid.”

“Oh, no thanks,” Jeff said.

“Yeah, it’s really weird. If you had some kind of insect based skill book, then he’d become more insect-like in nature. He’d lose his fur, gain a stinger, maybe wings and pincers depending on what route you go. Sorry that it’s a lot of speculation; Evolution Hounds are really diverse.”

“The ultimate designer dog,” Jeff repeated.

“Yeah, it’s frankly wild how different they can get,” I stated. “But, back on track. Feed him one skill book and he’ll change into a new form. The next three skill books will just bolster that form, adding armor or offensive capabilities or wings, all depending on the book of course. At the fifth skill book, he gets a completely different form that increases in power by a good margin, and then the next three skill books will bolster that one.”

“How many can he start with?”

“Excellent question. So at this point, you can only give him two. So a new form and something to bolster that form.”

“I’m guessing that he can get more later based on, what? Scenario limits?”

“That’s one way of doing it, but not the only way,” I said. “After he has his first skill book, you’ll get a pet menu that you can look through and it’ll give you different goals to reach for him to get additional skill book slots. Not enough to get him a second form yet, but it’ll put you at the cusp and then we have to wait for the scenario limits to lighten up.”

“Uh huh, okay. So giving him the Demonic Resistance skill book would set him down on the path of either a Hell Hound or Cerberus, right?” Jeff asked.

“That’s right. Hell Hound is actually on the way to Cerberus, and it’s a line that I’m familiar with which is why I can offer you so much insight. First book will get you a Black Dog, basically the bare minimum of a demonic dog. I can help you with skill books up to the fifth one which will transform him into a black and red Hell Hound. Finally, after a very rare skill book and a few uncommon ones, at the tenth book we can turn him into a Cerberus.”

"So they just skip Orthrus entirely, huh? That's a shame."

I shook my head. "You get Orthrus if you mess up on the way to Cerberus. It's the end of its own line."

“Is Cerberus the end of its own line?”

I shook my head again. “There’s one more after, but it requires a specific skill book that doesn’t show up until the later half of the end game so there’s basically no point adding it in. You can get him up to 14 to bolster his Cerberus form, perhaps adding in elements other than fire so his three heads can each have an element, but you can’t reach fifteen until you have that specific skill book. And it’s so far off that you might as well not even worry about it.”

Jeff nodded and fell silent, thinking over his options. I gave him time. We were closing in on Etson Square, but I wasn’t going to push him into this. In fact, taking a moment to think about it, it probably already seemed like I was pushing him into it. The Dealer’s words echoed in my head. Could they say no? With someone like you at their back?

“But, if you want something else, I’ll do my best to help you with Corwin’s evolutionary path,” I said delicately. “I don’t want to push you into it, I just want you, Kayla, and Corwin to be safe. If you’d prefer something that makes him nigh unkillable, then I can point you in the direction of a few skill books that are metal based that won’t lead him into being a glass cannon kaiju dog.”

“Will he get along with himself?” Jeff asked, stroking his chin.

“Sorry?”

He looked back down at me. “When he’s a Cerberus, will the three heads start fighting with each other all the time?”

“Oh, I gotcha,” I said, suddenly understanding. “Yeah. They’re three separate brains, but they all have one purpose, if that makes sense. Like they’re different and act different, but they’ll have a brotherly bond with one another that will keep them on the same page even if one disagrees. Hive mindish, I guess. It’s really hard to explain, and I’m sorry I’m not doing a great job of it.”

“No, no, I understand what you mean just fine,” Jeff chuckled. “Mind if I tuck these away in my inventory?”

“Feel free.”

With a nod, he swiped open his menu screen and did so, much to Corwin’s disappointment. “I’ll have to think on it, but I think I will send him down that path you suggested,” Jeff said. “But I want to think it over first, run it by Kayla because she always thinks of things that I don’t, and I certainly don’t want to evolve him before going into this stressful situation we’ve found ourselves in.”

I smiled. “Completely understandable. I’ll answer any of her questions and any you’ve thought of later.”

“Good. You ready?” he asked as we started up the slope that would lead us to Etson Square.

“Ready enough, I suppose,” I answered truthfully.

The streets were filled with people even outside of the safe zone. Tents were pitched, buildings had been claimed by large groups, and the citizens loitered. It wasn’t safe from monsters, but it was close enough that they had some semblance of safety. The Safari resort had the same thing, though the people outside of the safe zone had started taking up residence in the defensible office buildings.

At the top of the hill, I immediately picked out Thomas and Gabrielle off to the side in deep conversation. Next to them was a blonde woman I didn’t recognize, but figured was a disguised Kayla based on her height and posture. I pointed them out to Jeff. “You want to go visit them?”

“You’re not coming with?” he asked.

“Nah, it’s almost time for me to make a scene.”

Instead of answering me, Jeff looked down at Corwin. “Corwin, mama’s here,” he said gently. The dog perked up immediately. “Where’s mama? Where’s mama?”

The dog, with wide eyes, started looking around everywhere. Not seeing Kayla, he started sniffing the air.

“Go find mama, Corwin, go get her!”

Without waiting for any further instruction, Corwin shot off into the crowd, sniffing the air wildly. We watched as he met with various people, sniffing them and getting pets. It didn’t take long, though, and we soon watched as Corwin barreled into the blond woman’s legs, nearly knocking her over. Kayla looked around before she saw us, and Jeff indicated that he was staying with me.

“He’s such a good boy,” Jeff said warmly.

“He really is,” I agreed. Heading towards the center of the Square, Jeff followed after me. “Now let’s go see how this goes, shall we?”