The Fool's Freedom

The System messages came in rapid succession.

WARNING! Unauthorized invasion detected.

Emergency integration protocols initiated.

Sanctuary-wide Quest: Choose a Leader has been abolished.

The World Temple will provide safety to the classless and non-combatants.

Every combatant is required to fight and is barred from entry.

All energy from the slain invaders and their cores will be taken to power the Sanctuary’s defenses and work towards ending the invasion.

God spawn level limited to the lowest possible threshold.

You have received a new Sanctuary Quest – Purge the invaders. Protect the future.

A follower of a foreign God has deemed your world a worthy offer and managed to bypass the protections set to ensure the natural development of newly integrated planets. Your Sanctuary has been chosen as the starting point.

Slay the spawn.

Stop the mastermind behind it.

Energy harvested: 0%

Rewards:

-The biggest contributor will be awarded the position of Sanctuary Leader with a month of Protection.

-Additional rewards will be given to everyone depending on the level of contribution, including experience.

The confusion and panic quickly turned into efforts to contain the alien monsters that were swarming the Sanctuary.

Alan gaped flabbergasted at the erupting chaos around him. He had been ready to fight and kill humans. His struggles and his change in mentality were all about it. And now?

An ominous quest. The System was forcing them to fight for survival and to kill the spawn of an actual God? It could probably easily do it all with its omnipotence, but it wasn’t going to. The outcome didn’t matter to it, only that the situation was turned into another game.

And worst of all, Emerson was responsible for all that had happened. Why were the people he liked all fucking insane?!

“We need to organize and evacuate the non-combatants to the Temple!” Rosalyn yelled. Her voice still managed to overpower the noises of fighting and chaos. Her necklace was interesting, but Alan had other thoughts for now.

“I will focus on killing. It’s what I do best.” Alan replied, more to himself than to her statement. She was already barking orders to her followers and anyone who would listen.

“Let’s try one and see how strong it is,” Ashlyn echoed.

Alan summoned his staff from the shadow inventory and used [Shadow Weapon] to turn it into a spear. He didn’t want to get close and personal with the disgusting white chitinous motherfuckers that had come from the skies to end them.

One landed right on top of Dusty’s corpse. No one had moved to gather his things or take care of the body, which showed how much Cole valued his people.

The body made a disgusting sound as it was squashed beneath the white rock-like creature. It slowly spread out its bladed limbs, revealing a segmented body. Each limb was like that of an arachnid, and the segment closest to the body had a wide plate that could serve as a shield and cover.

The creature was constantly twitching, and Alan saw some thin gaps between the pristine white armor plates. It had no eyes or mouth. Still, there had to be something that made it tick, and it was surely hidden behind all the armor.

It felt wrong to him. Repulsive.

Disgusting.

He stepped closer and Ashlyn followed closely. Her bow was ready, but she had yet to shoot.

“Let me go first,” Alan said. He had not cast [Monochrome Armor] yet but he didn’t believe this would all end in an hour. If the defense continued for days, things were going to get bad. Unless of course, they all died in the next few hours, which was a distinct possibility.

The beams of light signifying the arrival of the spawn were coming slowly, but there seemed to be no end to them. The quest at least offered some level of relief, as they were not fighting an actual god, but a follower of one who wanted to kiss ass. That did sound much more manageable.

Would the mastermind be considered Emerson or that follower though? Did he have to kill Emerson too?

Damn it all.

The creature that had landed on Dusty’s corpse seemed to have no front or back end. It came up to Alan’s waist and was as wide as a coffee table.

It took a few testing steps as if looking around to find something to attack. Alan went closer, step by step. He tried to fight the tension in his body, but it was hard to face a new opponent. Especially something so foreign.

It ignored him, and the tension only grew.

“Hey,” Alan finally called.

The spawn instantly started moving in his direction with speed that was surprising, but not so fast he could not react. The problem was that while his mind could keep up and follow the movements, his body could not. He had noticed a while ago that while he didn’t feel much smarter, his mind was reacting faster and faster to new information, especially during fights.

His body more than kept up with [Monochrome Armor] on but without it…

Alan barely dodged the first swipe of a limb and used his staff to block a second one, praying that the enchanted item was sturdy enough. He had covered all of it in shadows to protect it in any case.

The thing was relentless and he found himself on the defensive. Ashlyn seemed to sense his situation as a charged arrow shot straight into the thing’s body, aiming for the space between the plates. Unfortunately, it missed, but the strength behind it sent the creature stumbling to the side.

Its sharp legs had a hard time balancing, but it finally managed and charged back in toward Alan. He was the closest after all. The arrow had left one of the plates protecting shattered though, and small pieces of it fell with each of the creature’s movements.

It was like a machine with the singular purpose of bringing death.

Another beam of light landed close by at this very moment.

Alan cursed and his shadow crawled up his skin and clothes. Dodging instantly became much easier and he started weaving between the attacks, instead of blocking clumsily.

He jumped back and slashed with the spear of shadows. It connected and cut into the chitin armor, but it was shallow and didn’t manage to reach all the way through.

Alan cursed. He had the speed now but his strength was lacking.

He put some distance again, which proved to be harder than he thought as the spawn was relentless in its pursuit. Still, it won him the few seconds he needed to test his new idea. The shadows covering his staff quickly twisted and changed, making the spear tip duller, but much larger. The weight didn’t change much, but the staff was already heavy enough for him.

Alan felt his mana pour into the skill as he pushed it to its limit. The staff-spear became a staff-mace and he reformed it in the shape of the one Emerson had gotten from the system. Alan still left a spear tip on top, just in case.

He wondered if whoever had crafted that staff, even if it was the System itself, had ever envisioned it being used in this way.

With muscles brimming with mana Alan swung his new weapon and let it fall right on top of the spawn’s body. The legs it was using to walk gave out and it fell on the ground, limbs sprawled and harmless. There was a crack as the chitin cracked under the force of the impact.

The spawn was quick to try and get up, but a second and a third strike brought it back down. The second cracked the chitin further, sending pieces flying around as if he had shattered a piece of white chocolate.

God, I miss chocolate.

The third made it cave in and sink into the soft red and blue flesh below. Finally, Alan stabbed with the still sharp tip of the staff mace and pushed it deep into the thing.

You have slain: Suppressed Purespawn (32)

Energy harvested: 0.2%

Oh, you motherfucking piece of shit System! We have to slay five hundred?! Without leveling up at that?

The second purespawn seemed to hear the commotion and charged. It was much smaller and Ashlyn moved to meet it, but Alan stopped her.

“I can only do this with [Monochrome Armor] active, and it has a time limit. Save your strength for now.”

She nodded and stood guard.

The new monster was like a small version of the other one. As large as an inflatable ball, it was almost cute. Alan still felt the repulsion and screamed as he charged his muscles and brought the shadow staff mace down upon the creature.

There was a disgusting crack. The hit almost flattened the creature, making strange blue liquid squirt from between the broken chitin.

You have slain: Suppressed Purespawn (24)

That had been surprisingly easy.

Energy harvested: 0.3%

“Huh, that didn’t look hard,” Ashlyn said.

Alan rolled his aching shoulders. His new weapon was not easy to wield with his current Strength. He needed to try what effect the [Shadow Slashes] would have on the things.

“Yes, but it is unsustainable for me to fight like that. My body won’t handle it. I need to try what else I can do, and fast.”

She nodded, “Let’s go.”

Finding more of the creepy spawn was an easy task. The fighting was growing and there were many groups around the plaza surrounding some of the monsters and testing them.

Alan saw the bar that had appeared in his mind grow ever so slowly, proving that people around the Sanctuary were starting to kill things. This was good.

The next one was also as large as the first. It was fighting a surprising foe – Turtle. The thing slashed and slashed and Turtle just let it. His skin seemed to warp like mud where the blades passed, only to reform a moment later. It was a bizarre sight and Alan grew more and more interested in the man.

There would be time for questions later.

He changed his staff back into a spear and sent a [Shadow Slash] from a good distance away toward Turtle’s foe.

The staff’s effect that added +40% to the speed and range of projectiles proved its value now, as the blade of darkness shot with blinding speed and crashed into the spawn, sending it reeling.

There was some damage, but it was not substantial at all and the monster continued attacking Turtle.

Alan sent a few more and watched as they crashed into the white chitin. Finally, there was an effect as the side he had bombarded started falling apart, revealing the soft flesh beneath. He got close and stabbed with blinding speed at the unprotected flesh while charging another point-blank shadow blade.

You have slain: Suppressed Purespawn (39)

Energy harvested: 1.1%

This was a sustainable strategy even without [Monochrome Armor] as long as he had Turtle to tank them.

“How long can you last against them?” Alan asked.

The man stared at the dead monster for a few seconds, once again taking his time before answering.

“Few hours. Then sleep.”

“Good. Come with us?”

There was a flash of light from the pillar still piercing the golden barrier and suddenly the number of beams almost tripled, raining spawn upon the Sanctuary.

Few landed very close to them, crashing through roofs and whatever else was in their way.

“Or maybe just fight.”

“I am joining too,” Ashlyn said.

Two of the things instantly charged at them, with a third following close behind. Alan wondered if they were finding targets by sound only, or were there other criteria. It made sense since the first one had looked lost until he spoke to it, overwhelmed by the sounds of the people fighting around the World Temple.

Turtle walked casually toward one of the spawns and took the two blades coming at him with no reaction, even though they sliced through his face and waist almost simultaneously.

Ashlyn too seemed eager to finally fight. Her weapons were not very well suited to kill those things, but she seemed to be doing fine. She was currently dragging a large wooden beam, fallen from one of the many constructions around.

Alan was not worried about her. He watched as another beam of light fell near the steps of the World Temple and the creature inside uncurled only to seemingly rust and fall apart in a second. The System’s doing.

He cursed under his breath and sent the spawn in front of him flying with a swipe of his ever-changing staff. It hit a nearby ruin and slowly stood up. It was smaller than its predecessors and quite the easy opponent. Alan had no time to waste. He had to do his part, mostly due to the promised rewards, but also because it would suck having to try a new Sanctuary.

He wondered if he could give weight to the shadows. Charging stronger [Shadow Slashes] seemed to make the weapons heavier, but the change disappeared once they were sent flying. Then again, additional weight would not allow him to wield his staff.

But if he could change that after he attacked?

The spawn was up and slashing in his direction. One of its legs was bent and it moved awkwardly, but still without an ounce of hesitation.

Alan used his staff to bludgeon it to death, all the while trying to manipulate his shadows. It was not hard to sense the flow of his mana, no matter what properties it took. But it was hard to change it when he did not know what he was changing it into. How would one give weight to shadows?

He turned and saw that Ashlyn was done with her monster, and was currently bashing the one that had been upon Turtle with the wooden beam. It took a few hits until the thing fell apart into a mess of chitin and strangely colored liquid.

Alan saw a group of people charge into the World Temple, protected by some of Rosalyn’s people.

Then his eyes widened as a ball of light, much bigger than any other he had seen so far, fell between him and where Ashlyn and Turtle had been. It kept rolling, instead of simply crashing into the ground, destroying the buildings along its path and leaving only dust and ruin. It stopped a few hundred meters away.

Everyone needed pressure to grow, right?

He rushed in its direction.