Awakening a 10,000x Skill Proficiency Multiplier in the Apocalypse

The world was entirely too loud. Even after scrubbing the Void virus from the server, the constant, low level hum of the apocalypse never really stopped.

Sebastian was standing on the high basalt ramparts of Sanctuary, enjoying a rare moment of relative peace. The sky was still a bruised, bleeding crimson, but the immediate five kilometer radius around his fortress was completely devoid of hostile life. The Tier 5 Arcane Towers saw to that.

He was currently drinking a lukewarm cup of instant coffee, watching the labor division haul scrap metal below, when his encrypted comm link violently vibrated against his ribs.

BZZZT! BZZZT!

He pulled the heavy, military grade radio from his coat pocket. It was picking up a signal through the massive magical interference of the atmosphere.

”Customer service, how can I direct your call?” Sebastian answered, his voice dripping with deadpan sarcasm.

Static hissed through the speaker, followed by the heavy, booming sound of artillery fire.

BOOM! CRASH!

The audio feed sounded like the inside of a collapsing building.

”Drifter.” A deep, heavily accented, and painfully exhausted voice crackled through the comms. ”This is General Iron.”

Sebastian’s silver tinged eyes narrowed slightly. He remembered the Guild Master of the Iron Covenant. The stoic Paladin who had marched a perfectly disciplined army of five hundred men into the frozen north, only to watch Sebastian drop a million ton glacier on their heads.

”General.” Sebastian replied, his tone shifting to business. ”You’re calling on an encrypted line. That costs premium minutes. What do you want?”

”I want to hire you.” Iron coughed, the sound wet and ragged. ”The Eastern Servers... the Asian continent. It is completely overrun, Sebastian. We are drowning in blood.”

”Sounds like a local issue.” Sebastian said calmly, taking a sip of his terrible coffee. ”I run a potion monopoly, not a charity airlift.”

”Listen to me!” Iron barked, desperation finally cracking his military composure. ”It’s a Beast Tide. But it’s not mindless. It is being led by a Tier 3 Demon Lord. Moloch, the Eater. Level 60. He is actively coordinating the Void Crawlers to dismantle our safe zones. My legion is holding the line at the Great Wall, but we are being ground into meat paste. We need heavy fire support. We need an anomaly.”

Sebastian didn’t immediately reply. He looked out at the red sky. A Level 60 Demon Lord wasn’t a standard mob. It was a direct commander of the Void forces. If Moloch conquered the Eastern servers, he would eventually turn his massive army toward North America.

”I don’t work for free, Iron.” Sebastian said coldly. ”And you don’t have enough gold to cover my deployment costs.”

”I have something better.” Iron wheezed. ”When the Merge happened, Beijing was classified as a System City. My scouts secured the vault before the monsters overran the capital. I have the blueprints and the access keys for the Eastern Regional Core.”

Sebastian stopped breathing for a fraction of a second.

A Regional Core. It was the ultimate administrative anchor. With that, he wouldn’t just have a five kilometer dome. He could claim the entire eastern seaboard. He could forcefully rewrite the weather. He could establish an empire.

”Send the coordinates.” Sebastian commanded, his voice suddenly sharp and lethal. ”Hold your line, General. Cavalry is coming.”

He hung up the radio.

”Wraith! Galleon!” Sebastian’s magically amplified voice boomed across the courtyard. ”Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!”

Twenty minutes later, the massive, heavy titanium blast doors of the Sanctuary engineering bay ground open.

The Sky Fortress hovered above the launch pad. The massive slab of basalt and metal hummed with terrifying, unregulated power. The Level 50 Dragon’s Heart in the central engine pulsed a furious, blinding blue, feeding raw, absolute zero mana into the anti gravity thrusters.

Sebastian stood at the helm, his black leather coat whipping wildly in the localized wind generated by the engines. Valerie stood beside him, clutching her oak staff. Galleon was frantically adjusting a massive dial on one of the six heavy mana railguns lining the edges of the platform.

”Boss, flying across the Pacific right now is suicide!” Galleon yelled over the roar of the engines. ”The oceans aren’t just water anymore! The Ethereal Plane overwrote the Mariana Trench into a Level 70 Abyssal Spawning Pool!”

”I don’t care if it’s a bathtub full of piranhas, stubby.” Sebastian grabbed the runic steering controls. ”We have a Core to collect. Hold onto your lunch!”

He channeled a massive surge of his glitched mana into the console.

VWOOOOOOSH!

The Sky Fortress didn’t just take off, it violently launched. The massive platform shot out of the open roof of Sanctuary, accelerating to Mach 2 in a matter of seconds. The G force was absolute agony, pressing Valerie to her knees.

They tore through the bleeding crimson sky, leaving a trail of blue plasma exhaust in their wake. They crossed the ruined American continent in minutes, the blasted landscapes of the apocalypse blurring into a grey smear below them.

Then, they hit the Pacific Ocean.

It wasn’t blue. It was pitch black, violently churning with unnatural, massive waves. The sky above the water was choked with thick, acidic storm clouds.

”Contact!” Wraith yelled from the front edge of the platform. The Level 25 Assassin pointed his daggers down at the churning black water. ”Multiple massive hostiles ascending!”

The ocean boiled. Erupting from the dark waves were horrors that defied logic.

They were Flying Krakens. Massive, horrifying fusions of squid and dragon. They had leathery, bat like wings spanning hundreds of feet, and their lower halves were tangled messes of razor sharp tentacles dripping with black ink.

[Monster: Void Kraken (Level 40)]

”They’re tracking the mana signature of the engine!” Valerie screamed, throwing up a massive, blue hard light Aegis shield over the front of the platform as a dozen Krakens soared upward to intercept them.

”Galleon! Swat the flies!” Sebastian roared, not slowing the platform down. He kept the throttle pinned to the absolute maximum.

”Oh, it’s a beautiful day for a war crime!” The dwarf cackled manically.

Galleon slammed his heavy hands down on the firing mechanisms of the port side railguns.

THROOM! THROOM! THROOM!

Three deafening, ear shattering cracks echoed across the empty ocean. Beams of pure, concentrated kinetic blue light shot from the barrels. They moved so fast they ignited the air around them.

The tungsten slugs hit the lead Krakens dead center.

SPLAT!

The Level 40 monsters didn’t even have time to register the damage. The railguns simply deleted their center mass. The Krakens violently exploded in mid air, raining a massive, disgusting shower of thick black ink and severed tentacles down upon the churning sea.

”Reload! Keep firing!” Sebastian ordered, steering the massive floating brick through the rain of gore.

A surviving Kraken managed to dive bomb the platform. Its massive, suction cup lined tentacles slammed into Valerie’s shield, the sheer weight of the beast making the stone deck tilt violently.

CRACK!

The hard light shield began to spiderweb. The Kraken unhinged a beak the size of a van, preparing to bite through the barrier.

Sebastian didn’t even cast a spell. He just let go of the steering console for one second.

He drew his Earth Sword, activated his [Heavenly Steps], and teleported directly above the monster’s head. Gravity reasserted itself, and the hundred ton mass of the concrete encrusted blade came down like a guillotine.

SQUELCH.

The Kraken’s skull was instantly crushed into paste. The beast went limp, its massive body sliding off the hard light shield and tumbling back down into the abyss.

Sebastian landed gracefully back at the helm, his boots slick with black kraken blood. The entire front hull of the Sky Fortress was now painted a thick, foul smelling black from the slaughter.

”Next stop, Beijing.” Sebastian smirked, wiping ink off his face. ”Let’s go show a Demon Lord how the new management operates.”