Seconds later, Greg turned when Faust landed beside them. "Fast and strong? You really put points in everything."
"You look like you're having fun," Thalia said to Nirvana with a mocking smile. She took out that camera again and took a picture of them. "Smile for me."
CLICK!
The crimson-eyed girl blew some hair off her face. "Shut up."
Soon they were all outside the gates watching everyone set up behind the barricades. The Gate had last spawned in the Slime field, a bit far from the front gate of the Novice village. The march of the goblins had flattened the tall grasses completely.
The Players formed battalions of hundreds of men. Each unit had tanks, slayers, mages and shadows. There were also a few unorthodox people in charge of dealing with curses of strange enemies.
Zen glanced up at the dark sky for a moment then turned to Faust. "We have a mission already. But you can take my place if you don't, i'll just go back to the village and—"
Spider kicked the back of his knee, shutting him off.
"I know." Faust waved off. "I was there when they came up with the idea of Special Teams. I suggested you guys be interceptors."
Thalia blinked. "You were the expert gamer that advised Diego…. I guess strength is all that matters. We offered our assitance but that Rin guy told us to fuck off in nicer terms. So what's your role?"
"Free to roam. I can do a lot of things, so I'll decide where I need to be."
For a second there, Faust caught a hint of something, maybe jealousy, in Thalia's eyes.
Might have something to do with the monsters in her team.
Nirvana's team had three people in the top ten—Zen(IDC), Nirvana, and Freya(Spider)— so their position was a bit special. Even Greg was in the top 20.
Their team was supposed to push from the barricades once the enemy's patterns were discovered and attack them where it would hurt.
When he decided to copy their Schemas, Faust discovered that four of them had a Schema, out of five. For how rare it was, this was an anomaly.
Thalia should be taking pictures of her teammates instead of me. No wonder most of them are so high up.
Zen had a Platinum-grade Schema called Sea Dragon. It gave him greater control and potency with water magic which he unfortunately had none of. Neither did Faust so he left it, since he only had two more slots.
Also Platinum-grade, Spider's Schema was called Chimera. She had the ability to take on animal characteristics randomly in battle, and briefly push her biology to the limit but not without consequences.
And finally Greg had a simple Iron Grade Schema called Steel Giant, that magnified his strength and defense temporarily.
He was already taking Nirvana's Schema for Attribute Drain, so right now it was between Chimera and Steel Giant, and frankly he wanted to try out Greg's Schema more.
[Schema: The Perfect Match, Scorched Earth, Pet Owner, Earth Serpent, Blood Lord, Steel Giant]
[Schema Abilities: Schema Replication, Instance Replication, Burning Field, Symbiosis, Serpent's Call, Attribute Drain, Blood Regeneration, Growth]
Now he was feeling a little overpowered. He had more abilities to remember than when it was just Nirvana's.
I'll have to find a monster to use Symbiosis on. I wonder if Goblins count as creatures with lower intelligence…
"Did you really just come to tell me I lost?" Nirvana asked beside him. They were alone now as the others talked ahead.
"I wanted to see how strong the other players were," Faust lied smoothly. "But I also wanted to make fun of you for losing."
She glared, not at him, but the air. "Dammit. Are you really sure we can't do anything else?"
Faust pretended to think a little, but he had already made up his mind. He was going to find a way to challenge and beat her. She was a bit weak, but Faust would take an easy win; he really wanted her Schema permanently.
"Let's talk about that later. First…"
He appraised her
[Name: Nirvana]
[Level: 3]
[Combat Power: 214]
"Your status is actually pretty impressive. 200 combat power is nice."
Nirvana laughed nervously. "It's all thanks to Freya's system and my Schema. Thalia trapped monsters for me to drain from."
"You shouldn't reveal that much about yourself," Thalia said, turning back to them. "He's only patronising you too. He has almost 800 combat power at level 5."
Many people turned with disbelieving looks. Spider jumped, fixing a complex look of loathing and begrudging respect on Faust.
"You can see my Combat power?" Faust said with obvious surprise. Back in the Town Hall, someone with Appraise was unable to see his combat power.
The system displays my additions from equipment as combat power too. That means Nirvana's 214 might be increased by some equipment.
Thalia tapped above her dark eyes. "Level 2 Appraise," she said smugly, turning to Zen. "I told you it'd be useful."
He scanned her casually.
[Name: Thalia]
[Level: 2]
[Combat Power: 76]
"Are you checking me out?" Thalia said with a tilted head. Then she glanced at Nirvana. "Relax, Violet, I'm talking about Status."
Faust glanced at Nirvana but she had quickly composed herself. "I was Appraising her."
"You won't see anything special," Thalia shrugged. "My combat power wouldn't even be close to 100 without Freya's help and this." She rapped her knuckles against the viking's helmet on her head.
Faust hummed then gave her a mocking smile. "You shouldn't reveal that much about yourself"
Thalia flinched a little then turned away muttering.
Nirvana moved up closer beside him to say something but a shout cut through the air of waiting.
"It's opening! But…"
The gate for the second wave had come. But not where they had expected it. It arrived in the North as they expected, but North-east rather. A couple miles away on their right.
The rainbow colors of the crack in reality lit up the night like an aurora borealis. Several people instantly grew pale, eyes open with disbelief at the spawn change.
"Goddamn system!"
"They can attack the town at that angle before they reach us!"
Faust was about to look for Diego to change plans slightly, but the Old Dog was ahead of him.
A woman with angelic wings fly up above the crowd carrying Diego by the arms. Once everyone could see him, Diego's Speaker Schema activated.
"Everyone calm down, we can move the barricades. People that dropped everything in Strength, it's time to show off. Drake, Maria, William and Clancy will help with their Schemas. Mages and Archers fire on anything coming out of that thing. Slow them down!"