Unchosen Champion

Coop had been backstabbed.

The Empire’s Chosen were trying to steal his settlement, but that wasn’t what he meant. There was a literal knife in his back. He had been stabbed right below his shoulder blade in a surprise attack while he contemplated how to leave the Zombie Lord and what the Empire’s plan actually was.

Coop spun, not willing to let the rest of his meager 125 health and 100 mana be drained by the opportunistic ambusher. He turned with his sword drawn and swept it ahead while he spun to face his attacker. His shield quickly followed. Coop wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The wild sword swing lopped off the offending arm, still extended from the backstab. The bone wasn’t reinforced like the Strength zombies’ had been. Coop cut through it with barely any resistance. There was a lot of blood.

Coop identified the culprit.

[Human (Level 26)]

[Infiltrator (Agility)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

[Darkness]

It was Parker, from Camila and Charlie’s party. Hostile looks were one thing, but what the hell was this?

Parker stared pale-faced at the stump of his arm that ended just beneath the elbow. Then he looked at the rest of the limb that lay uselessly on the floor still gripping the jeweled dagger.

“How? You should be dead… that was the perfect Assassin’s Execution…” Parker wondered as the shock of losing a limb clearly set in.

Parker took one step backwards before Coop’s sword cut his throat. There was even more blood. Coop recovered a pathetic 4 health and 1 mana from killing the Infiltrator.

Coop grimaced at what he had just done, and for what he knew he would have to keep doing.

He collapsed to his hands and knees, not because of anguish, but because he was so close to death. He coughed up blood and spat it out. He thought it was strange how his total health pool had been lower than his current health just a few weeks earlier. Now, he felt like he was dying with what would have been his maximum health back then. He might have to start thinking about his health in terms of percentages instead of raw numbers.

He didn’t get any more time to work through his pain-distracting thoughts, as he realized he wasn’t alone on the helipad. Two more figures had climbed the stairs at the corner of the platform. He didn’t need to inspect them to recognize that it was Richard the Battlerager and Eric the Shattershot, the rest of Camila and Charlie’s party. They were still beyond his aura range anyway. Their presence answered a few unasked questions.

Coop looked away from the pooling blood of the dead and up at the two new arrivals. They looked shocked, but took up combat stances. Eric drew his bow and an ice arrow began to form. On a whim, Coop grabbed the discarded dagger, hoping it would join his scavenged loot in the spatial storage. It disappeared instantly.

Coop forced himself back up and readied his shield. The helipad was the worst place to have to fight an archer with a bodyguard. It was a wide open space and Coop had no cover at all. The distance between them was the entire length of the platform, and even if Coop closed the gap, he would have to contend with the melee warrior while the archer repositioned.

He raised his shield as the ice arrow hurtled toward him. He blocked the missile and ice shards exploded all around him. He wasn’t able to avoid all of the damage, as the shards shattered and dealt incidental magic damage to Coop. Shattershot was a fitting name for his class.

He wasn’t going to let these weaklings chip away at his little remaining health, but closing the distance on the archer would be an insurmountable challenge in this location. He wanted a change of scenery and a moment to concentrate.

Instead of charging the pair, Coop leapt off the side of the helipad with a plan to change the dynamic of the fight. Coop rolled as he landed inside the destroyed office and rushed toward where the Zombie Captain’s self-destruction had taken place. Coop recalled that the explosion had torn a hole in the ground that led back down to the fifth floor.

Eric and Richard rushed to the edge of the helipad, but they weren’t quick enough to launch any more attacks. Coop sprinted to the hole, slid along the metal, and let himself fall down into the metal jungle.

The fifth floor still had hundreds of regular zombies, and plenty of buildings to use as cover. Coop would reuse his guerilla tactics if the Empire’s fledgling assassins continued in their pursuit.

In the meantime he skulked into one of the buildings and regrouped. He moved stealthily until he got his bearings by finding the idle zombies and remembering his escape routes. The bodies of the elite groups he defeated previously had disappeared, but the dark hallways were familiar enough even without them.

Coop wasn’t going to engage the regular zombies just to get himself ambushed again, and he couldn’t just kill a few to recover health and mana without alerting the rest of the idle army. Instead, he waited in the dark, keeping an eye on the entrances to the level. They could drop down the way he came, or they could take the stairs and appear on the landing. He was able to keep both in his line of sight. The zombie horde waited further into the interior of the platform, still unaware of the game of cat and mouse playing out around them.

It didn’t take long for Eric and Richard to appear from the stairway. Coop watched as they paused at the landing. He was surprised when Eric started shouting.

“C’mon out ya bastard!” Eric demanded as the pair strolled in the open.

Coop wondered what their angle was. Were they trying to use the zombies to smoke him out? Yelling was sure to draw their attention, but getting them involved would be to his advantage. Coop remained in the darkness of his hiding spot and shifted to see what the zombies were doing.

As expected, the zombies were stirring themselves awake. This seemed like it would work out nicely for Coop; he could recover some health from the zombies that lagged behind without drawing the attention from the entire horde at once. Richard and Eric didn’t seem to know about the horde at all.

He returned to watching the pair of assassins and frowned. He was going to have to kill them as well. The thought made him uneasy. This was becoming way too premeditated for his conscience. Comparatively, his previous two fights had been far more spontaneous.

They were also so weak. It didn’t feel right to fight them when the difference was so great.

Eric continued making demands and threats. Coop was surprised they were sure he was still on this floor. They didn’t seem worried that he could have kept going and made his way back to the ship. He wasn’t sure what that meant for the rest of the group or what they thought of his own capabilities.

The shambling normal zombies finally started approaching the two Chosen. The pair’s reaction surprised Coop. Instead of a controlled retreat, they panicked and got themselves cornered in between buildings right away. After Coop had carefully worked his way floor by floor against more difficult elite monsters, the incompetence of these two was astounding.

He kept watching as, with their backs against the wall, they were forced into a disadvantageous fight. The Battlerager powered up, burning some cooldowns, and started wildly swinging his longsword. The effect was unimpressive. The first level 20 zombies were hardly damaged and there would be hundreds more joining them soon.

Coop had to fight the urge to go save the Chosen, as helpless as they were. The zombies were hardly a threat, but the pair had specifically come here to finish him off. It was a weird dilemma where his internal morality hadn’t caught up with the reality of the situation.

Luckily, Coop didn’t have to wrestle with it for long because Eric discovered a way for them to climb through a window to get away from the zombies. They managed to get themselves inside of a different building from Coop and escape the incoming wave of slow and dumb monsters. Both Richard and Eric had been bloodied by the first few zombies that had engaged them.

Coop took the opportunity to defeat a handful of zombies and recuperate some health. The zombies had high health pools since their primary attribute was Body. Unfortunately, they barely had any mana at all so Coop’s mana didn’t budge from nearly empty.

He snuck past the rest of the ambling zombies and entered their building from an alternate entrance. He stayed quiet with his sword and shield ready, and snuck through the now familiar corridors. The industrial pipes and low ceilings would be his advantage, offering obstacles and close quarters that would stifle the archer.

Coop heard them before he saw them. They were cursing at each other while they argued about what to do. They seemed naively confident that the zombies wouldn’t follow them inside despite their panicked initial reaction to the monsters. They would have been surprised to find the elite groups waiting for them if Coop hadn’t already cleared them out. Coop listened in on their conversation.

“We can just say we couldn’t find him and leave. Stranding him with these monsters is just as good.” Richard hastily suggested to the disagreement of his partner.

“Taking his head will have the best effect.” Eric countered. “They should have made their move already, this’ll be the icing on the cake.”

“We can’t stay here! Those monsters are way too strong and there’s so many…” Richard exclaimed. He was far more anxious as he was the one that took the most damage from the normal, non-elite zombies.

“We’ll just wait for a bit, the monsters will lose interest soon enough.” Eric tried to calm Richard. “Then we’ll hunt him down and kill him. You saw Parker land his ambush, he’s probably bleeding out somewhere just waiting for us to finish him off. We can take his head back as the perfect trophy.” An ugly chuckle followed. “Just imagine the look on their faces…”

Coop had heard enough. He made a decision and accepted that this was just how it was going to be. He’d have to continue to fight if he wanted to survive, and that meant killing enemies. In this case it was easy to figure out that these two were his enemies. He sadly decided to get it over with.

Coop turned the corner and entered the room with his shield up and sword ready, catching the two unprepared. Richard the Battlerager was still powered up from fighting the zombies and he met Coop’s blade with his own. Coop’s one handed swing smashed the long sword out of the way and forced Richard to stumble backwards.

“What’s your problem?” Coop wondered as he marched forward.

“It’s just business.” Eric responded as he backed further away, still not taking Coop seriously. “With you out of the way, it’ll be easy to convince the Champion to hand over the settlement. That is, if he hasn’t already lost it.” He explained with a nasty grin. “It’s a little personal because I don’t like the way Camila looks at you.” Eric admitted while he took aim with his bow.

Coop blew air out of his nose at the absurdity. These guys were enthusiastic about killing him and all they could offer were flawed or trivial reasons. Meanwhile, Coop was still trying to get his head around killing monsters that could potentially be people. He needed to toughen up.

Richard used an ability that ignited his sword with a red and black aura and swung it at Coop’s head. Coop countered with a quick swing of his own sword, sending Richard stumbling backwards again. The difference in their Strength was absurd. Coop may still be in the process of toughening up, but he had already powered up quite a bit.

Eric was charging his bow while retreating down the opposite corridor. Coop swapped his sword for his spear, using 49 of his limited mana and threw the spear at Richard’s head.

Richard barely dodged out of the way thanks to his temporarily boosted stats, stumbling into the side wall and falling to the ground, but Coop had aimed for Eric. The Shattershot was forced to avoid the incoming missile, canceling his charging bow attack. As he turned his back to move out of the way, Coop mistjumped to the spear, burning another 36 mana to teleport right behind Eric.

Coop reached out and grabbed Eric’s cape, yanking him backwards. Eric fell with the clatter of his bow, flat on his back, staring upside down at Coop.

“Wai…” Eric started to plead from the ground, but Coop interrupted him, definitively, with the tip of his spear, and turned back to the Battlerager.

Coop looked at Richard, disappointed to find that the oblivious Battlerager was charging toward him, intent on continuing to fight with his glowing sword scraping the ceiling, held high in preparation of a strong downward strike. His eyes matched the sword’s aura, leaving a red and black magical trail as he moved forward.

Coop leveled his spear and thrust forward, treating the Battlerager like nothing more than an Ancient Defender. Richard could barely sidestep in the narrow corridor, but he still barely avoided a killing blow. His speed and strength were both enhanced by abilities and his sword was reinforced with an aura, but it didn’t bring him close to Coop’s level.

Richard made an effort to counter attack, bringing his sword down, but the second spear thrust was already coming in a practiced motion that was nearly automatic for Coop. Richard was forced to retreat from the blow, hopping backwards and bending away as quickly as he could. It wasn’t fast enough. Coop finished him off with the third strike of his triple thrusted spear. The Battlerager had nothing to block with and not enough reach or speed to get around the spear. Coop didn’t even need his shield.

Coop collected their weapons while shaking his head sadly at the notification he got for defeating them.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

They shouldn’t have been worth any experience at all, in his opinion.

Before he left, Richard’s body twitched and he growled, then abruptly sat up. Coop beheaded the man’s body before anything else happened, though he learned something about the zombificaiton buff. It was pretty quick.

Coop didn’t rush back to the ship. Instead he exited the building the way he came, and returned to the horde of zombies. He didn’t want to leave a horde of zombies alone on the oil rig. Someone might stumble upon them and get hurt, or, even worse, spread them to the rest of the world. Besides, grinding was so routine for Coop, it had become a form of meditation, and he had some thoughts to work through.

Coop hoped it would be a mercy to kill the zombies, he offered their souls a wish for peace before he released them.

He spent his unallocated attribute points in Mind, and used the extra mana to swap back to his sword. He had 12 mana left, but he didn’t expect to use it. The normal zombies were only around level 20 after all.

The horde of zombies only lasted slightly longer than an hour. Coop used the time to try and face his feelings. The last thing he wanted to do was sink back into his old habits where he was ignoring and suppressing his emotions to avoid dealing with his own guilt. Even if it was hard to confront himself, it was probably healthier.

Despite the justifications, killing someone was a traumatic experience for Coop, but he had already come to the firm realization that it had been necessary, and would be required in the future as well. It was a function of the new system they were all in, and the reality of human nature itself. He doubted that he would have ever been in a situation where he had to kill before the system arrived. Now, he was fighting for the future of Earth just like everyone else. He couldn’t be wishy-washy about his principles.

Ultimately, he wanted to be a good person, someone that could help others. It was the most fundamental message his parents had left him with, and he had already wasted too much time caught up in his guilty feelings.

Developing the settlement and welcoming others to it was his way of working toward that goal of helping. The responsibility of a settlement was a headache he would have avoided if not for the unique circumstances of Ghost Reef, and now he would also need to gather strength to prevent others from taking what he built for their own ends.

His careful initial planning put him in a position where he actually could accumulate the power necessary to aid others, but he would also need the determination to follow through. Coop understood that if he was pushed far enough he would need to respond in kind. He’d still feel bad about their deaths, the wasted potential and loss of life was heavy, especially when he didn’t even think they should be fighting each other at all. There was another threat to the planet in the Primal Constructs after all.

With the last zombies taken care of he was ready to bid the oil rig goodbye. It certainly could be useful in the future, so it was good to know it was there and it was clear of monsters. For now at least.

He checked his status to see how his health and mana recovery had gone.

[Status]

HP - 2300/2300

MP - 1244/4300

Class - Revenant (Level 35)

Profession - Basic Scavenging (Level 28)

Affinity - Spectral

Race - Human (Rank 1)

Faction - None

Strength - 15 (+430)

Agility - 15 (+215)

Body - 15 (+215)

Mind - 430

Intelligence - 15

Acumen - 15

Unallocated - 0

Titles - Champion II, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper, Slayer I

Skills (Active) - Retribution, Salvation, Presence of Mind

Skills (Passive) - Common Language, Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application

Quests - Defeat Ancient Prowlers V (605/11111), Defeat Primal Kites II (11/25), Upgrade Outpost to Village

Basic Credits - 203,113

The zombies had nice health pools to recover from, but their mana was terribly limited. At least Coop wasn’t on the verge of death any more. He didn’t like the taste of blood and he had been coughing it up ever since getting stabbed in the back.

He had to admire his stats. The Empire’s goons had fallen so far behind they could barely stand up to him face to face, and he couldn’t even give all the credit to his passive skills. His enemies didn’t even have professions. Even without his skills providing significant bonuses he would be doubling their stats just by leveling scavenging.

He was surprised the Infiltrator’s assassination attempt had been so dangerous, given the wide disparity in attributes. In total, he had dealt around 2,200 points worth of damage through Coop’s mixed defenses and his ethereal armor. No wonder he was so shocked it hadn’t worked. Such a powerful attack would have been able to instantly kill almost anyone else multiple times over.

Coop had to remember that his overwhelming stats didn’t make him immortal, even when he faced a lower level. Overconfidence would be insidious. Just ask the Zombie Lord.

Coop checked the top 10, anticipating his own name.

Day 21

The Lich (Level 45)

Banshee (Level 45)

Coop (Level 35)

Platinum (Level 33)

Reina Kitawa (Level 32)

Akari Kitawa (Level 32)

Safiri (Level 31)

Hai Yun (Level 30)

Tzultacaj (Level 30)

Karl Ekberg (Level 30)

Coop had jumped onto the list, stealing the Zombie Lord’s position, but he still had some catching up to do. Platinum had also gained three levels in a single day, which was an impressive feat that almost equaled Coop’s. Safiri had gained one level and jumped up a few spots, but a pair of newcomers had appeared at level 32 first. Coop didn’t think they had come from a faction, as all the factions seemed to release their Chosen all around the same level, not just two at a time. He theorized that was the reason the leaderboard often had million-way ties.

It seemed like the faction dominance of the leaderboards was already coming to an end. Maybe there would finally be some separation between the top positions. Coop hoped he would be able to keep up.

Bracing himself for more killing, he went to the edges of the floor to find the boat. He still needed to get back home.