129 Three
Zarek adjusted his kevlar gloves on his hands. He hadn't been using them recently, trying to keep them in as good condition as he could.
His stats—and those of the people around him—were slowly starting to get to the point that the normal limits of their usual tools wouldn't keep up. But these steel boots he wore, and these gloves, would definitely last a while longer.
That said… he wouldn't be surprised if they saw the last of their days today.
All things considered, he was quite bare-bones otherwise. Despite all the Godsfall Tears Zarek had cleared in recent weeks, outside of the katana he had taken for himself and the crossbow-shield on his left arm, he didn't have much else on his person.
The thing he would most want right now was probably some inner armor of some sort, but that would unfortunately interfere with his Lurker's Armor.
His Godsfall talent was too poor to begin with. An inner armor treasure worth putting on his body right now would definitely feed on his Godsfall to function optimally.
That wasn't a problem normally, of course, because the demand was minimal. But if he flooded his skin with Lurker's Godsfall, it would try to absorb it, and he would be half combating that while he was trying to focus on other things.
What he would have preferred was a pair of machetes or daggers, but he wasn't so lucky.
It wasn't that there were no treasures of the sort. In fact, he did have a pair of mismatched daggers hidden in the straps of his waist right now.
The problem was that he didn't have any D-Class ones, so they wouldn't hold up.
Despite all the danger, the number of D-Class rewards available was minimal because the number of actual D-Class Godsfall Tears was minimal as well.
If they traveled to the center of the city, though… that just might provide them a chance to take a look at those truly.
"Ready?" Zarek spoke without looking over his shoulder, feeling Priya walk into the room.
"Mhm."
He nodded.
—
Name: [Zarek Ashborn]
Role: [Hero Candidate]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: D] <B>
>[Dexterity: D-] <B>
>[Intelligence: D] B+>
>[Endurance: D-] <B->
>[Charisma: D-] <B+>
Talents:
>[Temp Duplicate: D-] <B->
>>[Abilities: Mirror]
[The world's matter…]
>[Harmonic Recall: D] <B+>
>>[Abilities: Echo]
[The echoes of the past…]
>[Atom Link: E-] <A+>
>>[Abilities: Link]
[The particles of the world…]
>[Empty]
Skills:
>[C Class Scouting: C+] <C+>
…
Notes:
[Off to risk your life on stupidity again. An interesting choice considering this is your last life. Have you considered holing up and giving in to the inevitable? ]
—
Zarek stepped out of the truck and onto a familiar bridge. After taking down the walls to funnel the Turned toward the warehouse, they had already put the defenses back up. Now, this was going to be their path to the center of the city.
There were five of them in this group. Aside from Zarek, Priya, and Zade, there were Mitch and Snooz.
It could be said that of Zade and Marx's five good brothers, Mitch and Snooz probably got off on the wrongest foot with Zarek. But things had changed since then.
There was a good reason Zarek had left so early back then. Other than feeling Marx would figure it out, he wasn't the best with controlling his mouth or his temper. Not giving them a chance to say anything foolish was exactly the reason they could have a relationship today at all.
Plus, the two of them were the best for this operation. Zarek had hand-selected them.
Even if the Godsfall Tear could allow for more to enter, Zarek didn't want more than five.
Zarek was the perfect melee combatant. Priya was exceptionally strong in the mid-range, and her sensory capabilities were excellent. Zade was a second melee combatant that could shore up their vanguard, though honestly speaking… Zarek would have preferred Marx.
With his skills, Zarek didn't need help in being the meat shield. Zade was more likely to hinder him. But Marx's abilities were better suited to protecting and managing GFI for now. Plus, it would be unexpected that Zarek would have enough pull in GFI to take real control of their squad like this.
Everything about his past lives denoted him as a lone wolf. Jiade wouldn't expect him to intertwine himself so much with them at all.
That left Mitch and Snooz.
One might expect them to have auxiliary abilities—maybe a buffing ability or a healing one. Of their group, the only one that could heal was Priya, and she was only able to apply that to herself.
However, that wasn't the case. Although Aidran could buff people, and Daze could heal people, Zarek hadn't chosen them.
Their abilities weren't mature enough to build a team around them. So what did Zarek choose instead?
More firepower.
Mitch was what they would likely call a Pyro Mage in the future. It was quite the pleasant surprise for Zarek to find this out.
A Pyro Mage wasn't as simple as it sounded like. They weren't just Fire Mages by a cooler name. They controlled not just flames alone, but the actual combustion process—the underlying chemical reaction.
To put this matter into perspective, Crux was probably one of the most powerful Fire Mages on all of Earth when he reached his peak. But even he had to strive long and hard, accumulating many Skills and a special Role before he could officially become a Pyro Mage.
Unfortunately, being a Pyro Mage didn't immediately mean you were strong, and Mitch was outfitted with a mere B-Class Pyro Mage-related Talent.
However… Zarek could work with it, not just for the firepower, but for what the unique underlying secondary and tertiary effects could allow.
And then there was Snooz. His Talent didn't have lore nearly so profound related to it. He had a Talent related to Lightning-Type Godsfall, one that allowed him to basically be akin to a highly specialized Priya.
While Priya could absorb and assimilate any Godsfall of any type, Snooz could only do so with one.
But once again… those secondary and tertiary effects were exactly what Zarek was aiming for.
With this team, he was confident this expedition would only have one result.
"Priya, you know what to do. You'll be our acting scout this time. We'll pace ourselves. Our aim is to cross the distance in three days."
It was an unexpected twist Zarek only sprung on them now. Why were they taking their time while everyone else was most definitely rushing to get there first?
Zarek certainly didn't know more about the Godsfall Tear than Jiade did. They were both rebirthers. Logically, he should be doing whatever Jiade was to maximize his chances.
But this time, Zarek didn't explain. Priya trusted his judgment implicitly and didn't question it, while Zade almost felt the same way.
Mitch and Snooz looked toward one another, but then they chuckled. They had already doubted Zarek once; they weren't about to do it now—not after what they had experienced these last few weeks.
If he said go south, they'd go south.
If he said go north, they'd go north.
If he said take three days, they'd take three days.