Frostbound

Chapter 265 - Introduction to the Blight

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E-Rank Planetary Protections Assessment

Category: Introduction to the Blight

Description: Beginning when the timer hits zero, all obelisks placed around the world will open up and hordes of Blight-touched denizens will burst forth from all sides. This horde of infected will venture forth seeking to consume and corrupt everything in its path. The wave will continue until either all Defenders have perished or the horde is defeated.

Assessment Results: Passing this trial is contingent upon the performance of how the Defenders deal with the horde sent against them. All 13 obelisks will be taken into consideration when determining the final outcome.

Rewards for Success: Continued Planetary Protection against beings and Factions above E-rank.

Additionally, Individual Beings and Factions will be Rewarded on a case-by-case basis depending on their Contribution and participation.

Failure: Cessation of Planetary Protections.

We wish you the best of luck, may your spirit never be extinguished.

~~

"Holy fuck." My words weren't alone as most of the people gathered voiced similar sentiments. The notification was a lot to take in and most were still staring wide-eyed into the air.

The first thing that came to my mind was Blight-infected. I'd heard the term used before but had never run into anything like it myself. I think someone mentioned a tutorial dealing with the Blight.

The second was the fact there were 13 of the obelisks around the world. It was an odd number that confused me at first. There was one here, in the Eastern portion of North America.

There was probably one in the Western Portion. Another in Central America?

That would be three.

Another in South America. Probably two based on the size. Another two in Africa put the total at seven.

One in Europe was eight. Would Australia get one?

The Asian Countries were the most populous, how would they be split up there? Would India get two based on sheer number of people?

What about the Island countries? Japan, the Philippines, and New Zealand were just a few off the top of my head but there were countless others in Polynesia or Oceania. If Florida was anything to go off of, travel by way of Ocean was all but impossible at this stage. Would they be relegated to be bystanders while everyone else fought?

Admittedly, my mind immediately trying to puzzle out where the other dozen obelisks were probably wasn't the best use of brain power. There were so many other things I should've focused on first.

Like what the fuck the Blight was.

Just as I was getting through the various thoughts and ideas I had after reading the notification, so was everyone else.

"What are we..."

"How..."

"We should..."

Everyone began talking over one another and it was impossible to make out what was said. The people who came in groups or stood near one another turned to each other to discuss while everyone else was left to add their voices to the crowd.

"Quiet down everyone!" the Admiral tried to get the talking to stop and import some order but even he was ignored. He had to call out a number of times before everyone settled down into something manageable.

"In light of this new information, why don't we all take a minute to confer with our own Factions." He announced.

It was obvious he wasn't in the position he wanted to be in. He seemed like a man who liked holding all the cards and now that a bomb had been dropped on him, he needed to take a minute to figure things out.

It was a good sign in a leader and one I wanted to do myself.

I didn't wait for anyone to agree or voice opposition, as I needed to wrap my head around this and the first thing I needed to do was find someone who had a tutorial that involved the blight.

As I departed back toward our camp, most of the leaders were doing to same. Some stuck in groups, but most went off toward their own sections alone.

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The walk back to our spot was faster than before as people got out of my way when they saw me coming. It was like they could tell I wasn't in the mood to shimmy through a crowd and opened a path for me to walk through.

"Sophia!" I called once I reached where we set up camp.

The blonde came running at hearing her name, "Yes, my Lord."

"I need you to find everyone who knows, has heard of, or has dealt with the Blight or Blight-infected creatures. Specifically, those who had tutorials pertaining to it." I ordered.

While she was doing that, I would gather those of the Council who made the journey. Abigail especially, as she spent the most time with the information books we had.

We didn't bring them with us, but she'd read through all of them enough times to know what they said.

Before she turned to run away, I stopped her, "And Sophia, see if anyone had tutorials or System descriptions with the word denizen in them."

The distinction was probably nothing, but it bugged me. The notification stating the description of our tutorial was a while ago and so much had happened since then and now, but I didn't remember it using the word denizen.

If I remembered correctly, it said enemies, monsters, or creatures. Not denizens.

"Denizen, denizen, I feel like I remember reading about that somewhere," Abigail said quietly.

Gathering the Council had been easy as most of them were already together when I came back. They knew that whatever I learned at the meeting would need to be discussed.

Sophia's job was much harder and we enlisted a few more to go around asking.

"From the word, it sounds like it won't be monsters sent against us but rather people," Jonathan said.

"People? You mean we're going to fight infected humans? Like some kind of Zombie apocalypse?" Austin, who should've been more worried, was nearly vibrating in excitement.

"It doesn't have to be Humans. Now that we know other races are out there, it could be anyone. Denizen doesn't immediately imply Human." Jonathan responded.

"So instead of beasts who we can outreason, we're going to be fighting something that can think." I surmised.

"That depends on what this Blight does." Abigail said, "It could remove the capacity to reason."

"They also won't be attacking with fangs or claws. It will most likely be a weapon of some kind depending on what we're up against." Hal chimed in.

"Similar to the waves of Goblins then?"

"That seems to be the most likely scenario."

That makes everything harder. Fighting beasts was something I'd done extensively. There were the occasional waves of Goblin or humanoid enemies but they were few and far between.

There was also our fight against the Mindbreaker which was fought mainly against other humans.

Fighting against someone with a weapon was inherently different than fighting against beasts. The level of skill involved also mattered.

Sophia opened up our tent flap and signaled that she was ready. With a nod, I ushered her in with the people she managed to gather.

There were nearly a dozen that came walking in. Some were part of an Order, with the patches they implemented worn on their armor while others were just volunteers.

"You," I pointed at the one who followed after Sophia first, "What do you know of the Blight."

The man shrank back a touch at everyone staring at him so intently. After they walked in, conversation was cut off and everyone turned to look at the newcomers.

"Yes... uh, sir, my tutorial was about the category Blight Outbreak." He stammered at first but found his footing.

When he said the category of his tutorial a few others in the line nodded like they had a similar tutorial.

"We were told that the Blight comes from the Void. Another term that was used instead of Blight-infected was void-touched. It's a disease that corrupts the mind and turns you mad." the man stated.

"So it's Demonic?" I asked.

"No," he said firmly, "Demon energy can corrupt and taint, but it seeks to turn everything Demonic in nature. The Blight only seeks to consume and destroy. If I had to describe it better, I'd say it's Eldritch rather than Demonic."

"You," I pointed to the next one in line, "Do you have anything to add?"

"No, sir, Bryce and I were in the same tutorial."

I pointed at the next person.

"Uh, we were told that it was the antithesis of life. While Creation seeks to expand and thrive, the Blight seeks the opposite. It was also said that there's a constant war going on to keep the edges of the Universe from falling to it."

"So what, it's some kind of virus?" Austin asked.

"I think it's more than that." Abigail said, "It sounds like what Games depicted as Abyssal creatures or Eldritch horrors. The things that seek out life and destroy it."

Austin looked shocked and his mouth opened slightly in disbelief. My reaction was similar but better contained.

"What?" she defended, "When our world turned into a video game I studied up."

We were both surprised that she knew what an Eldritch horror was, let alone Abyssal creatures. Abigail wasn't a big gamer which made her use of the words so surprising.

"Fair enough," I said, "Where does that leave us for what to expect? The description said Blight-Infected and we determined earlier that denizen probably meant a race of some kind rather than monster."

"From that, I think it's safe to assume the obvious." Austin said cheerfully, "We're gonna be facing an unknown race driven mad by Eldritch horrors who may or may not be able to plan and reason."

"And who will more likely than not be using weapons of some kind," Hal added.

Perfect. Just perfect.

"I think we should note the reason behind the test we were given." Abigail speculated, "This is the first test since the tutorial. The first time that the System has intervened directly. It should be noted that the first thing we're up against is this... Blight, or Void-touched. And, if there's a constant war going on then there's probably a deeper meaning behind why this test is first. The Category of the notification clearly states 'Introduction to the Blight.'"

"Is any of that even useful?" Austin waved a hand dismissively, "We've barely stepped past being H-rank Humans, and are only a few Ranks above being useless. Why would it matter which test we get first?"

"I'm just saying that there could be a deeper reason behind it." Abigail defended.

"None of that is important right now." I said, "Deeper meaning or not, it doesn't change the course at hand. We need to plan around a protracted battle with things that can possibly reason. Best case scenario, they charge at us like everything else has before. Worst case, they plan and test our defenses looking for a way through.

"If it's the latter..." I paused, "We need a much better cooperation between factions."

Everyone nodded at that. Telling them how the meeting went was one of the first things I did. Not only did it detail how various Factions viewed one another, but it also gave us a chance to mark down where people were from.

The first to break the silence was Austin.

"But you all missed the most important part of the notification." Austin grinned mischievously, "I was right! There is a reward. Don't all praise me at the same time, it's okay to spread it out a bit."