Apocalypse: Generic System by Macronomicon (shoe dog free ebook TXT) 📕

Ron, you ready?” Jeb asked, watching the Golem’s head turning ponderously to look at them. Behind the golem, he could barely make out the tip of Brett’s spear waving.

“I’m not sure if – AIIII –!”

Jeb grabbed Ron and his death knight and threw the two of them over the bridge, into the waiting arms of Jess and Brett. The necromancer had the presence of mind to put the shield between himself and the lava lake, but Jeb saw the death knight burst into flames before it disappeared behind the charging golem.

The air was hot.

“Cover your sensitive bits!” Jeb said, picking up himself and Amanda, lifting them out of the way as the flaming golem slammed into the wall just below them, snatching up at their feet.

Jeb felt like he was flying through a convection oven as they flashed across the open area, his exposed skin screaming in agony and peeling. Jeb was pretty sure he lost a good portion of his hair to the oppressive heat. Amanda fared a lot better with her armor acting as an insulator.

They landed to see Ron putting out the fires on his Death knight, Brett and Jess motioning them to hurry.

“Go, go go!”

Ron grunted as Brett picked him up again and the five of them got back to running, turning their way up the winding tunnels, aiming for the copper insect people village.

They blazed through the place, some of them literally on fire. The leather exterior of Jeb’s armor released a cloud of smoke behind him a moment before it burst into flame, fed by their high speed movement.

Jeb couldn’t stop to put it out. That was a death sentence. He couldn’t take the armor off, either. It might be on fire, but it was still cooler than not wearing it.

“My ass is on fire!” Ron’s voice was lost in the constant rumbling surrounding them as the entire cavern shifted.

What the hell?

The floor lurched up beneath him, smacking into his dangling legs and knocking off his charred stump-accessory

The peg leg tumbled into the distance behind them as they zoomed into the entrance hallway.

The entrance seemed to be…swelling shut, the stone around the sides bulging outward, closing off the thin ray of daylight leading to the outside.

“Fuck that,” Jess growled, tucking in her shoulder. The Assassin was in the lead, her light clothes mostly burned away. She summoned a helmet and a shoulder guard, ramming into the narrowing entrance with everything she had.

Jessica burst through, tumbling to the ground in a shower of pink-hot shattered stone.

Brett threw Ron through the narrowing hole before charging it himself. Brett was nowhere near as small as Jessica, and with the armor he was wearing, he presented a much wider obstacle. There was little to no chance he’d be able to make it through with his own momentum.

Jeb cut off the Myst holding him aloft as they came to the closing exit and funneled his telekinetic energy into Brett’s back, shoving the soldier forward with literal tons of force, aiding his charge.

“Shit!” Brett grunted as he suddenly accelerated, slamming into the stone wall hard enough to shatter the blockage, tumbling out into the open air.

Unfortunately, no longer supported by his Myst and missing a pegleg, Jeb collapsed to his hands and knees, which immediately caught fire.

“Gah!” Jeb stared down at his bubbling hands for a timeless instant before he felt an armored arm wrap around his waist, hoist him into the air and throw him through the Brett-shaped hole.

Jeb hit the ground hard, rolling downhill and incidentally putting out his armor.

A fraction of a second later, Amanda dove through the narrowing entrance, landing on the ground with a metallic clatter.

We’re all out, Jeb thought scanning the terrain. They were somewhat charred, missing large swaths of skin and clothing, but they were all alive, thank god.

“Hot, hot!” Brett shouted, tearing his superheated armor off of him, followed by Amanda and Jess, tearing leather straps to shed armor hot enough to cook meat on.

Ron’s clothes were mostly extinguished, so the necromancer took care of his gently burning zombie. It looked more like a mummy now, honestly. The creature’s water content had been removed.

The mountain shuddered under them again.

Jeb looked down the slope and spotted one of the mountain’s ridges pull itself out of the ground, earth and stone sloughing away to reveal a titanic hand lined with molten rock.

Ah, shit. We’re not out of the woods yet.

***Casey***

“This is shitty,” Smartass grumbled, using her squirt-gun’s power-washer attachment to clean out baby Casey’s diaper. “And not just in the literal sense. When I offered to help with the baby, I was thinking of teaching her Fairy Law, or how to use Myst, not cleaning diapers.”

Casey glanced at Smartass sideways. “You do know humans don’t even learn how to speak until they’re two years old?”

Smartass gasped. “Two years? Years!?” The faerie looked down, rubbing her chin contemplatively. “Fairies know how to speak from the moment they’re born.” She looked back at Casey. “Are you sure she’s not…simple?”

“Human babies can’t speak.” Casey said, trying to maintain her patience.

Smartass jabbed her chest. “When I have larvae, you can bet your behind they’re gonna bust out the shell talking.”

“When you have larvae?” Casey couldn’t help giggling at the Fairy’s silly pose. “How old are you? two weeks?”

“A hundred and forty-seven.”

“Weeks?” Casey asked hopefully.

“Years, duh.” Smartass wiggled her head sassily.

“But you’re so…” dumb. Casey didn’t want to finish that sentiment. “Innocent.”

“Hard to lose your innocence when everyone else has the attention span of a goldfish,” Smartass said. “You know, I’m probably the smartest fairy of my generation. I can stay on task for hours, sometimes days. It’s one of the reasons they named me smartass.” She polished her fingernails on her chest.

Casey opened her mouth,