Mana System In The Apocalypse

Behind You

Meanwhile, on the other end of town, a bloody fight had just ended. Spent casings littered the ground.

"You.. you can't do this," The Officer said through gasping breaths, his lungs filling with blood. They had managed to save over fifteen hundred people from the monsters before they were forced to take refuge at the High School. They thought they were safe, but they had become a buffet for the true degenerates among humanity.

A small woman walked up to the dying officer and smiled, "I can do anything I want," she said, pointing at the dying man, a glow on her finger.

She had finished off the last remaining officer, it was now time to power level the rabble, what little she had gathered in this podunk little town. They had already shipped off over five-hundred of the surviving populace south. Unfortunately, for the rest of the survivors, they were out of collars. She expected at least a quarter of the slaves would survive their trip. It hardly mattered, there was always more. She watched as her men rushed into the building. Gunfire and screams followed. Occasionally she would pick off someone attempting to flee. They were the chattel, or people too afraid to use the System given gifts that were bestowed upon them. They didn't deserve to live in this new world.

***

The building Frathsar was talking about and our destination, looked to be about four miles away. I could just barely see something sticking up over the other buildings that I didn't recall being present when I drove through a few days ago. If I had to guess it was just to the south side of downtown.

You have been invited to a party by Frathsar do you wish to accept Y/N

I thought yes and saw a green icon appear above Frathsar along with his health and mana bar.

"This will help us support each other and if we get separated will provide us with an icon we can see as long as we are within a few miles. I will cast my spell on us, it is a minor redirect spell that prevents direct sight of us from unaware foes. The effect is broken by attacking or with a high enough perception. Keep an eye out for any particularly wary foes."

"Sounds good, I will cast my buffs, although, I may not be able to cast them all right now. I can boost agility, HP, and defense."

Frathsar nodded and I cast Wind Walk, Endure, and Rock Skin on us. That left me with fifty mana and just a slight ache in my head that quickly went away as my mana started filling back up. I would wait to cast Giant Strength and Shield until they were needed.

We made our way at a quick jog towards downtown. I had a good estimate of what my endurance stat meant now since the start of my journey. I could clear the distance of a half marathon in record time just barely. So I figured having 15 of a stat would be prime physical condition and I had slightly over that for endurance. I only managed to figure this out because of the wind-up wristwatch I found in the back of the Sulid wagon. The only item I found worth anything.

The hour wasn't correct on the watch but it was a close estimate of what time it should be. It worked well enough for me. A quick glance at the watch showed it to be a bit after 5:30 pm.

After a few minutes, we had to cut down a side street as a battle broke out between what appeared to be locals from their guns and a group of Royal Guard and for good measure a group of six Sulid.

We didn't get close enough to see levels but I saw the Royal Guard and red hats cut apart the Sulid then start going at each other. I left them to their fate I had no intention of getting involved with the locals, it was bad enough I grew up in this town.

I had bitter memories from the long drawn out court battle to try and prosecute the drunken man that slammed his car into my family's minivan, killing all of them. Turns out he had been the mayor's son and the judge let him off with a piddly sentence of six month's house arrest. That wasn't even the worst part, the town re-elected both the mayor and the judge more than once after that. Now, I didn't think so highly of myself to expect my family's death to mean anything to these people. That didn't mean I had to care about them either. It was the main reason I moved away in the first place.

Moving down the streets, our luck ran out a few minutes later when we were walking around a corner and literally ran into a group of five Sulid.

"Oof," escaped my lips as I ran headlong into a Sulid.

We both went down and I heard the burbling warble of their speech before one stabbed me in the leg. I screamed from the pain and the poison coursing through my veins.

I struggled but couldn't get my staff into a good position so I pulled out the pistol and just unloaded the second magazine knowing it wouldn't do a whole lot of damage. I was right it didn't kill the creature but it did force him back giving me enough time to get to my feet and face off against the three. What I found odd was the fact that they were all looking at different me's. I silently thanked Frathsar for the assist as he remained well behind me. Using the brief pause I checked out their levels

Sulid | Warriors | Level 8

Sulid | Brutalizer | Level 10

I took a step back on my good leg while casting Rejuvenate making sure to avoid putting too much pressure on my wounded leg. I knew Frathsar told me not to use healing in public but the spell didn't give off any tell tale signs so I figured it was safe enough to use here. I would cast cleanse as well but that spell produced a glow. I could use this injury to my advantage, the Sulid probably figuring I was worse off than I was as the wound was already closing. I took another step back and all three leaped together to try and spear their respective me as I landed on what they thought was my bad leg.

The leg was still sore but it held up as I pivoted out of the path of the spear and cast Flurry of Blows catching the surprised Sulid off guard. The effect of the spell was even more pronounced against an actual target than my earlier test. My staff shot out in a blur six times catching the creature in the face and chest. Blood and viscera splashed across me as my third strike ripped through the creature's skin striking deep into its chest causing it to collapse in a heap dead.

Before the other two Sulid could take advantage of the fact that they knew which image was the real me, I smashed the one to my right with an Earth Fist to its knee causing it to face plant the ground. I parried a stab from the one on the left and took another step back the pain only a dull ache now, casting Giant Strength. This caused me to take another stab but it hit my armor only causing minor damage since I was still poisoned from before. I kicked out at the creature but he was quick to hop back out of range. My battle lust was in full swing.

"No, no P**e, you come back here," I said, rushing forward.

I cast Aura Strike on my staff and went at him with abandon. My staff was a blur of strikes thrusts and spins. He was able to dodge most of them with ease until I finally managed to land one strike to his hip. It wasn't a strong strike but it applied the debuff effect I had been waiting for.

"Paul, behind you!"

I threw myself to the side missing the fatal blow from the other downed enemy but wasn't fast enough to avoid the strike completely. I rolled back to my feet and jammed the healing potion into my leg. My heart pumping wildly as adrenaline and poison flowed through my veins. I tried casting Rejuvenate again but it was still on cool down. I could feel myself slowing due to the damn poison and I risked casting Cleanse knowing they would come at me when they saw the spell go off.

One did rush towards me, the other dropped over dead as a burst of bluish-green blasts came from Frathsar's direction. This also pulled the last remaining Sulid's attention just long enough for me to hit him with a quick jab to the throat.