Fool's Bond (System Apocalypse: Kismet #2)

=Chapter One=

The dampness filled the air with the scent of cedar. It didn’t quite cover the smell of rot, but it helped. Not enough though.
Jackal had noted the strong, pleasant, woody smell as they’d made their way closer to the entrance of the dungeon. The rain had been falling heavily all day, its constant drum adding a background rhythm to their hike. The dungeon was on the outskirts of the town of Prince George.
Before the System, the dungeon had been a pulp and sawmill. They’d gotten solid instructions on how to traverse the dungeon: Start in the former Administration Center, which would open access to the pulp mill, and clearing that out would open access to the Sawmill. It was effectively a three-level dungeon, with the hazards growing at each level. The Prince George adventurers recommended they take their time with it. Regulars suggested a day for each level.
It was a good dungeon for a city. The first level was challenging enough that no one had soloed it yet, but teams of low-Level Basic classes could complete it. Mid Levels could make it through the second level. The last level hadn’t been completed by anyone yet, but the first few monsters had been tough, even for the highest-Level Basic classers in town. A couple of Advanced classers had made it through the first part of the last level but had never been heard from again.
Jackal smelled the rot again, cutting through the otherwise pleasant cedar smell. The System had transformed the inside of the administration building, according to the locals, but the outside looked the same. A long and quite pretty boardwalk passed over some neatly trimmed wide grass fields to a building that looked sort of like a school or small-town hospital, low and a bit spread out. The rain and cool spring air had resulted in a mist all around the grounds, and instead of being spooky, it had looked almost romantic.
That had been a lie.
It jumped on him from somewhere above. Probably intended to surprise him. Whether that might have worked had been made moot by the horrible burbling scream it had let out while leaping at him.
Jackal cut a backhand cut without even really thinking about it, but the face of his attacker froze in his vision. That happened sometimes. In the middle of a fight, like a freeze-frame image. It didn’t stop or slow him down, but it was like a portion of his subconscious was chewing on something it saw and was reluctant to let go.
Jackal hated that. Hated it because he knew he’d be seeing that face in his mind’s eye, probably just as he was falling asleep.
Wide-set red eyes and a little pug nose almost between them. Long, bat-like ears flopping out to the side…an incongruous silver loop earring hanging from the left one. Impossibly wide mouth open in a scream, with hundreds of small, needle-like teeth filling it.
It had been wearing a tattered little jacket, ragged with patches all over. Big black boots went right up to its knees, sharp hobs poking out from the soles. And a big, meaty cleaver, that it had been swinging at Jackal’s head.
The image in his mind was frozen just after his sword cut cleanly through the goblin. There wasn’t even any blood yet, just the smallest hint of recognition in the goblin’s eyes that something horrible and permanent and irrevocable had happened to it.
All Jackal had felt as he bisected the creature was a faint pop that traveled down his arm from the sword. Just a minor wobble, a tiny reverberation that caused a subtle but pleasant ting sound, if anyone was listening.
He didn’t even really feel the impact of the two halves of the body when they hit him less than a second later.
Jackal realized he’d let himself drift and pulled himself back into the moment. He took a quick glance around the space to see if he’d missed anything.
They were in a large, open space. The admin building featured a beautifully designed atrium, all wooden beams and planks and floor-to-ceiling windows, interspersed with criss-crossing, green-painted stairs leading from floor to floor, office to office. All of that was still intact but expanded.
And filled with goblins.
Fool was ahead of Jackal, swinging his warhammer with both hands at a pair of what looked like Gremlins. Or possibly goblins covered head to toe in fur. Jackal couldn’t quite tell, but Fool seemed to be handling things fine. A quick glance behind him confirmed that no one had sneaked behind Jackal.
The reception area was still spattered with the lavender blood of the Sirens they’d had to fight past, but none of those bodies were even twitching at this point.
Ahead of him, the Mousekin were moving in tight formations.
Jackal grunted in appreciation of their tactics. The Mousekin looked beyond adorable, but you couldn’t argue with their skills. They were a compact military patrol unit composed of two squads made up of two four-mouse teams each. Each team had a mage, two melee fighters, and ranged weapon specialist, with an additional healer for each squad. They’d clearly been trained to a high degree and moved with precision, laying down a river of damage as they engaged the enemy.
It was even more impressive because they were smaller than the goblins. Each Mousekin was just over a foot high, and the goblins doubled that. If the Mousekin patrol didn’t punch way above its weight class, they’d have been swarmed under the goblins in no time. Instead, they were cutting through the goblins about as easily as Jackal was.
That accounted for everyone. Except the Mousekin leader, Roger. Where was Roger?
Jackal looked all over the room but couldn’t see him or his two companions, Eric and Olivia. Where the hell had they gotten to?

Release Date: January 15, 2024

Pages: 353

Genre: LitRPG Sci-Fi

eBook ISBN: 9781778551666

Language: English

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