Apocalypse redux book.., p.1
Apocalypse Redux - Book 5: A LitRPG Time Regression Adventure, page 1
APOCALYPSE REDUX
Book 5
JAKOB H. GREIF
CONTENTS
Summary
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1. The Bar
2. Interlude Reaction
3. The Greatest Test a Man Can Face
4. A Great Burden
5. What Goes Around, Comes Around
6. Bossy Problems, Take Two
7. Interlude Tomfoolery
8. Here Comes the New Boss
9. I’m Not Trapped in Here with You, You’re Trapped in Here with Me
10. The Last Few Points on the Checklist
11. Evolution, the Fourth
12. The Power of Friendship
13. An Auspicious Meeting
14. Fire Thief
15. An Auspicious Start
16. Dungeon Crawler Complications
17. Progress Report
18. Interlude The Raid
19. Stronger Together
20. Sneaky Bastards
21. Ranting and Seismographs
22. Repercussions
23. The Hunt for Aspects
24. Talking
25. Interlude Alphabet Soup
26. Buying Pets and Taking Stock
27. Interlude The Mystery of Isaac Thoma
28. Human Nature Sucks
29. Alternate “Event”
30. Undead Horde
31. A New Perspective
32. White Christmas
33. Another Round of Aspect Hunting
34. The Most Dangerous Catch
35. The Round Table Convenes
36. The Eldritch City
37. The Descent
38. Hellhole
39. Interlude Five Minutes Earlier
40. Unstoppable
41. Giantslayer
42. Here We Go Again
43. Quarantine
44. Talking It Out
45. Digging up the Past
46. Anniversary
47. The Fourth Horseman
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The Adventure Continues…
Book Five: Final Stats
Books and Reviews
Books by Shadow Alley Press
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GameLit and Cultivation on Facebook
Dedication
Afterword
About the Author
SUMMARY
The enemy has been discovered, the battlelines have been drawn, and the world will never be the same.
A major battle in downtown Hamburg has seen the metropolis practically leveled, demonstrating in the worst possible way how much power individuals can hold, and the world is reeling from the shock. But more members of the cult responsible for the catastrophe are still out there, and Isaac has resolved to hunt them all down, even if each attempt may unleash a fresh wave of violent calamity.
And the political responses to the situation are predictably counterproductive: ineffective regulation that lets real monsters grow in strength while strangling efforts to save the world.
Can Isaac fight against the whole world, working around the old order he’s trying to save while beating the cataclysm the [System] has brought with it—or will he be forced to watch humanity end for a second time?
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THE BAR
From the outside, the bar looked like any old hole in the wall, a lit entryway with a propped-open door and a sign above the entrance, but that was about it. There wasn’t even a menu outside.
The only thing that set it apart from a service entrance was the freshly painted “STARHAIL” above the doorway. It wasn’t lit up or made to stand out in any other way, but this was the kind of establishment you heard about through the grapevine if you were in the right line of work. They didn’t want or need walk-ins.
Or rather, they wouldn’t, because the bar was brand spanking new, not having existed long enough to gain any kind of reputation.
There was one customer, however, seated in one of the private booths, the [Bartender’s] [Skills] ensuring that no one could look or listen in, not even the [Bartender] herself, while leaving the person inside fully aware of anyone who even so much as tried to approach. A perfect setup for private meetings.
As to just how Rosalie Wagner had gotten to over Level 80 when most of the world was still faffing around in the upper 10s, Isaac wasn’t sure, but between his other timeline knowledge and the background check his company’s in-house investigator had done, he was pretty damn sure there wasn’t anything shady he needed to worry about involved.
When this place eventually gained a reputation for quality service, privacy, and discretion though, then it would be overrun.
Isaac sighed and leaned back in the sinfully comfortable seat, stuffed his phone back into his pants, and rubbed at his temples.
“Something wrong?” a man who’d just entered the booth asked. Short, very muscular, and with a bearing that practically screamed he was either military or law enforcement. Polizeirat Franz Habicht, head of one of the strongest law enforcement teams in the world and a close ally of Isaac’s.
“You know how we decided to see if politicians got country-wide boosting [Skills] by bringing them to their next Evolution and having them pick a suitable [Class]?” Isaac asked rhetorically. “Someone went to all the kinds of power-hungry people we don’t want to power-level and told them that it was an exclusive program that they just had to ask me to get in. And now, they won’t take no for an answer.”
“Sounds annoying,” Habicht said dryly.
“That’s putting it mildly. When I find out who is responsible, we’ll see how funny the old ‘flaming bag of dog shit on the front porch’ really is,” Isaac growled.
“Please don’t make threats where I can hear them.” Habicht sighed.
“Of course, I won’t do that. I wouldn’t be that uncreative,” Isaac told him.
Habicht just shook his head in mock disappointment. “So, what’s this about? Apparently, the bar has a [Skill] on it that lets high-Level people get drunk if they allow it, so be honest with me, are you trying to create the most dangerous duo of drunkards the world has ever seen? I mean, you called me to a bar across the street from your company, so you have got to know what this looks like.”
Isaac laughed, but the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ve got a few more people coming. I’ll explain once everyone is here.”
Then, his phone dinged with another incoming email.
“I swear, the next time someone contacts me over this crap, I’ll be reading their Stat sheet out loud, in public, and make sure there’s a reporter present,” Isaac grumbled.
“I actually did that once. It was hilarious.” Another, new voice cut in. It was a blond man who looked like an action hero come to life, dressed in what appeared to be a fusion of a modern suit and medieval high fashion. Arthur Wells, soon to be able to change his surname to “Pendragon,” if Isaac’s knowledge from the other timeline held true.
“And who had to smooth things over afterward?” Arthur’s companion rebuked him. Elena had changed since Isaac had last seen her, her Asrai race’s features becoming more pronounced as her Level increased. Her formerly black hair had turned a blueish silver, and while her eyes had always been blue, they’d now turned a sapphire-like color that was decidedly not something people had naturally.
“Bah, he was already on the outs with his backers,” Arthur shot back. “Him going after me with all these crazy methods he thought he’d get away with was never going to go well even before I told everyone his build was basically all manipulation [Skills].”
“That isn’t an excuse or a justification, Mister. It’s the only reason the fallout wasn’t an even bigger problem,.” Elena scolded.
Seeing this, one might say they argued like an old married couple, but Isaac knew it was more akin to a mentor-mentee dynamic, even though the actual power structure ran the other way. It was a weird system, but it worked, strangely enough.
“Anyway, may I introduce to you Polizeirat Franz Habicht, head of GSG-13 and a good friend of mine?” Isaac said and turned to Habicht. “These two are Arthur Wells and Elena Hightower of Camelot.”
“We met briefly during the Spring Event,” Elena said. “But I don’t believe we’ve been officially introduced until now.”
“Is this everyone?” Habicht asked. “I’m getting really curious as to what all this is about.”
“We’re still waiting on two more,” Isaac said. “Feel free to order something, I’m paying, and this place has some very exclusive beverages.”
“Exclusive?” Arthur asked.
“[Skill] enhanced, high-Level crafter kind of exclusive.” Isaac grinned. “But please, no one use the [Skill] that allows you to get drunk until we’re done here.”
“Why, I’d never!” Arthur said, mock-offended as he stepped out of the booth and headed over to the bar.
“This is getting interesting,” Habicht said, “though when you’re around, things usually are.”
Isaac just shrugged.
“Actually interesting, or ‘interesting’?” Elena asked.
“Chaotic clusterfuck kind of interesting,” Habicht said. “I just hope t oday doesn’t turn into another occasion like that.”
“It probably will, won’t it?” Elena said, then looked at Isaac. “Are you looking for investors? I mean, that is your company across the road, isn’t it?”
“No, this place is just a private meeting spot I trust,” Isaac said. “It was either this place or the middle of the woods.”
“You don’t trust your company’s information defenses?” Elena frowned.
“Not for this. Not as much as I trust a [Bartender] close to Level 90, with a specialization in providing private meeting spots, with a [System]-based guarantee that she isn’t listening in either,” Isaac said.
“And now I’m worried.” Arthur grimaced. “You’re seriously not going to tell us anything for now?”
“For now. We’re waiting on two more people.” Isaac said.
“Told you we shouldn’t have come early,” Arthur told Elena.
“And I told you if we’re not early, we’re late,” she shot back.
Isaac tried to hide his laugh behind the club soda Arthur had given him, but the clear liquid didn’t particularly help things.
“You know, that’s an interesting name for a bar,” Habicht said, trying to fill the silence.
“Add ‘full’ and translate it into German,” Isaac advised and Habicht just burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Elena asked.
“‘Sternhagelvoll’ is a very colorful way of saying ‘very, very drunk,’” Isaac explained. “It’s a good name for a bar.”
Then, finally, the last two people walked through the door.
One was tall, blond, and sported considerably more hair than he’d had during his first meeting with Isaac. Professor Bailey had eventually given in and used his biomancy to restore his full head of hair.
The other was a Korean man of average height who looked like he could have bench-pressed cars pre-[System], with slightly glowing, ice-blue eyes carefully taking in every facet of his surroundings.
Seon Yoo-jin, the man in charge of the organization that ran South Korea’s Dungeons, was not someone who often left the capital of Seoul, much less traveled to another country entirely for a meeting in a bar. But Isaac had earned enough credibility with him that his request for a meeting had been accepted as a matter of course.
Isaac introduced Yoo-jin to everyone, then added his own set of privacy [Skills] to the ones already in place. Either would have likely sufficed on its own but combined, they probably surpassed even the protection of the Oval Office.
He stood up and walked to the edge of the booth, reached out with his hand, and held it out over the table, palm down. Beneath it, a [Lesser Illusion] wavered into existence. It had taken him hours of practice to get to the point where he could keep these images in place without requiring his constant attention.
He was showing them the last few things he’d seen in the other timeline, images of pain and bloodshed.
The endless armies of demons and demonic beasts filling the plains at the foot of the final fortress of humanity, an immense castle built in an oddly modern style.
The sheer destruction Mark and Cade had wrought on that horde, a single punch leveling a square kilometer, lighting bolts hammering out of the clear sky, and annihilating foes by the thousands.
The gigantic Demon Lord that had been the last monster of this world to die.
The magic slideshow had taken maybe five seconds, but everyone was already looking at him with countless unspoken questions on their lips, save Bailey.
Isaac decided to explain before anyone interrupted for clarification, dropped every single information defense, and spoke.
“There are a million ways I came up with to say this, but none seemed sufficient, so I’m just going to come out and say it: I’m from another timeline, and the images I just showed you tell the story of how humanity as a whole died.”
Isaac paused to allow for a reaction, but everyone just waited patiently for him to continue. Well, except Bailey, who was making a “get on with it” motion.
“Eleven years from now, in 2034, monsters who killed their summoners and got loose spawned so many more of their kind that the planet itself was overrun. Normal monsters of all Tiers, but also [Field], Tier 10 [Raid Bosses], and even a couple of [World Bosses].
“I’d be dead too, but there was a final emergency provision included in the [System] that allowed the last human to return through time if a few conditions were met. Which I did.
“One moment, I was standing on a battlefield. The next, I was back in my bed on the day the [System] initialized. And ever since then, I’ve been working to try and prevent that future from coming around.
“I sped up research into the [System], intervened when and where I could, headed off tragedies I was able to predict, and shared all the information I thought was helpful. But now, I’m at the end of what I can do on my own. I’ve also changed things a lot, and my knowledge of specific Events is useless now.
“Short of trying to beat humanity into behaving and not ending the world through reckless summoning, I can’t do much else except wait for something to go wrong and hope I’m close enough to intervene. So now, I’m asking for your help. All of yours.
“I realize this is surprising, and that it sounds impossible. If you want me to do anything to prove myself, I will. I’ll tell you the secrets behind the [System], later. If you need specific information, I’ll provide it. I trust you all, and your helping me won’t go unrewarded.”
After that speech, Isaac paused and looked around, already mentally readying himself for a verbal shitstorm. Yes, he did trust these people, due to either their reputation in the other timeline or his getting to know them in this one. But the problem was that he trusted them in their current relationship, a relationship that would massively change if any of them felt like he’d betrayed them. While that might not have been entirely rational, it was understandable. He only hoped that if someone decided to take this badly, they would at least not blab his secrets to the whole world. He doubted that would happen, but he still worried.
“What secrets do you have?” Elena was the first to speak, sounding breathless. “Do you know where the [System] comes from?”
“I do.” Isaac nodded.
“Screw it,” Habicht said. “If you don’t have anything to tell us that can’t wait until after you’re done telling us the secrets behind the [System], then tell us.”
“Does everyone agree?” Isaac asked, earning himself irritated or even outright dirty looks.
“You just offered to solve the biggest mystery in the world. Did you really think we wouldn’t want to know?” Yoo-jin was the only one who spoke up.
For Isaac, the answer had been oh so clear, never in question, and he’d had years to come to terms with it. He’d regarded it as damn important, but that had still fallen short of how badly they wanted, no, needed to know this.
So he explained. The cosmic balancing act that had seemingly existed since the beginning of time. How the [System] had initially been meant to be helpful, and what had changed it. How he’d been the one publishing all those secret messages that had caused some people to seriously assume the Illuminati were real. The new modification of the Events that had happened because Isaac was taking much of the bite out of other [System] features. He even mentioned his talk with Loki, and he showed them the description of the [Aura of Divinity Endured], which he’d unlocked thanks to that meeting.
“When I asked, you told me that you’d never met a god face to face,” Arthur said once he was done, tone half confused, half accusatory.
“Your question surprised me, and I didn’t have the time to think through what to say,” Isaac said simply. “I screwed up.”
“I get it,” Habicht said. “What I don’t get is why you haven’t even tried to get divine help. There is a certain amount of give and take. Any help would be matched by a bane, but you haven’t even asked about the cost.”
“I haven’t tried to get divine help because divine intervention is chaos incarnate. All the interventions that have already happened didn’t change things. We’re having real trouble keeping on top of the Events, and in exchange, autonomous summoning was nerfed into the ground, but that isn’t going to help us if someone summons a [World Boss] out of FOMO,” Isaac said. “We can focus on the information I’m providing and which we’re discovering every day instead of having the rules change on us with no warning.”
