The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1) by Craig Kobayashi (ereader android TXT) 📕

She fought him, desperately clutching at Gran's old cardigan and kicking at the man pulling her away. Gary took the kicks and punches and slaps and scratches with an accepting determination, he knew it was nothing personal - there was simply more emotion in the poor child than she knew how to express. When he pulled her from the couch, she thrashed and flailed about, striking his chest as he pulled her close. She fought, sobbing, for a few seconds before she wrapped her arms around Gary and whimpered softly into his flannel shirt.

"I'm sorry," she said, after long minutes of painting Gary's shirt a shade darker with her flood of tears. Snot dripped down her face as well and Gary smiled at her comfortingly. "I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Okay," said Gary. He watched the little girl walk all the way out of the main hall before he did what needed to be done.

With Daisy safely out of sight, he hefted the dead weight of Gran's decrepit body and cradled her in his arms to carry her to the washroom near the back exit. His boys had brought a handful of white drapes to the room when the first death occurred to wrap the body until they could bury it. The first death was that of Nigel, another elderly member of the Raid group formerly known as The Band of the Hawk. Gary had already hauled Nigel's body to the washroom, wrapped his corpse, and laid him on the marble floor not even an hour before he cradled Gran's remains through the washroom door. He laid out a bedsheet, set the woman down and then left her to rest, wrapped in white next to Nigel.

Alone with two dead in the washroom, Gary felt panic creeping up on him. He was infected with Plague, denoted by a small skull and crossbones icon in the bottom corner of his vision. The panic he felt was not for himself though, his Regeneration stat of 21 replenished his HP almost as fast as Plague drained it. He was more worried for his sons, his nephews, and the other two hundred people suffering from the Plague's effects. He looked at the icon closely and read the informational prompt that appeared.

You are infected with Plague. You will suffer 18 (death) damage per second until you are cured or until the source is neutralized.

The previous Raid Group members with healing Abilities had each attempted to cleanse the Plague with no apparent luck. Gary shook his head in frustration, the only thing he could think to do was contact Garath and ask for help. He didn't know if the Necrologist would know what to do, but he seemed to have a greater understanding of this new Earth than Gary did - what other option did he have?

He willed his MENU panels into existence before him and sent a private message to the away team (dungeon Party) with hopes that Sharon's Cure Poison spell would have more luck than the other healers. The bearded handyman sat next to Gran's corpse and awaited a reply.

Private Message from Garath to Gary - 00/00/06 @ 07:19:

Isn't Mark there? He's a Naturist too. What kind of Plague? I don't know if there is any way out of this dungeon without completing it. Who died? Is it a DoT magical plague? ... (DoT=damage over time) or is it some kind of virus ?? Either way, doing this dungeon and will get back ASAP

Private Message from Gary to Garath - 00/00/06 @ 07:19:

Who's Mark? I'll ask around and try to find him. Is he the chubby guy that always looks like he's about to cry? I don't know what kind of plague, I see this little skull and crossbones icon and it says, 'you have plague and will take damage every second until you are cured' or something. If there's another Naturist here then you don't really have to hurry, not sure what you can do that we haven't already tried.

An older fella named Nigel passed and Daisy's Gran just went too. Everyone is trying to use their health potions to keep their health up but I don't know how long it's going to last. My Regeneration seems to be high enough to make up for it but almost everyone else is fighting a losing battle with the potions. Healers are trying to keep everyone above 50% but they’ll run out of Mana eventually too.

You have any ideas how to cure?

Private Message from Garath to Gary - 00/00/06 @ 07:20:

That's Mark alright. See if he can cure it and let me know.

#sadface @Gran, that's rough.

To cure, I have no idea. You don't know the source of the disease at all?

Private Message from Gary to Garath - 00/00/06 @ 07:21:

No idea.

Private Message from Garath to Gary - 00/00/06 @ 07:21:

k. Let me know what happens with Mark. Going to get moving on this dungeon. I'll send you a message when we're heading back.

Oh! Check the forums and see if anyone else knows anything about this Plague, keep me posted! Good luck and let me know if anything changes.

G

***

Garath led the Party through the blue stone tunnel with his Flayer and Fel Hound trailing five-meters behind at his command. He was discussing the Plague debuff with Athios as they walked, debating whether an epidemic so soon after The Culling could possibly have been planted by the same entity, until an odd sound caught his attention and Garath called a stop.

"You hear that?" he asked, pausing and cupping his ear toward the noise. It sounded like a massive waterfall in the distance, with a closer, sloshing sound. As they rounded the last corner and entered the cave mouth, the sounds explained themselves. The sloshing sound was produced by sapphire water creeping up into the mouth of the cave and fading back in slow waves. The crashing waterfall sound was a bit deceiving though, it was not one massive waterfall. The cave mouth opened into a water