Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

"Two thousand zombies, huh?"

Barns shudders just thinking about it. He feels a lot more comfortable fighting goblins, kobolds, - monsters such as those. The festering, rotting undead creep him out.

"Yes, but we’ve developed a brilliant plan," Osmond notes. "See, when I was talking to it to my darling Maria, she reminded me that zombie hordes are quite easy to control with a little distraction and noise. So, the plan is simple. We will build a large trench, have King Clancy fill it with foam, and then lure the zombies into it - brilliant, am I right? A little fanagling and we can have that entire horde kill itself! Oh, and then you can do your thing after, I suppose."

"Sounds like a good plan to me. I’d rather not dive headfirst into a crowd of zombies." Experience new tales on freewebnovel

Osmond gives him a thumbs up. "Then I shall consider that an official order from the legendary hero! I shall begin preparations at once, Barnie."

Osmond swerves on his heel and walks off. Maria lingers poolside for just a moment longer.

"I met with that girl, Jennifer," she says, unamused. "I have no idea what made you choose her for such an important job, but from my evaluation, she’ll do just ’fine’ as Ambassador. You’ll be escorting her to Lantafort tomorrow, and you can pick Skado up while you’re there."

"Okay."

Barns is just eager to get back to his training. He’d been going at it for hours already, but he’s still brimming with energy and determination. Nothing - not even an impending horde of undead - can stop him from achieving his goal.

"Right," Maria continues, rolling her eyes. "In other news, Underhill and I have made some developments with the System and Zelia. It turns out old users can be repurposed and reassigned. We only have a few that Zelia was able to manipulate, but a few is better than none. So, congratulations, Barnacles - you are now a System User, just like me. Oh, but don’t expect to have anywhere near my level of access and understanding."

"Does that mean I can open the System at any time, now?"

"Once you figure out how to do it," she gloats, before shifting to a subtle smile. "I’ll show you when you’re less…preoccupied."

"What’s the matter? Afraid of getting a little wet, Maria? Last time we were in the water, you didn’t seem to mind showing me some things."

"Hey, Maria?" Osmond shouts from across the courtyard. "Are you coming? What are you talking about!?"

Maria peers over her shoulder, emitting an audible sound of disgust. "I hope someone knocks you down a peg, you’re getting a little too confident, Mr. Legendary Hero."

She says his title mockingly, but he doesn’t care. "The Adventurer’s Guild rep-slash-Moderator in Ordella will be receiving an account as well. So it’ll be you, me, that person - whatever their name is - and Jennifer. Oh, and Underhill as well."

"So, between all of us, we can send messages now? That’ll be a relief. We can have instant communication with Lantafort and Ordella whenever we want."

"Yes, Barnacles, that is the point. Oh, and try not to linger in Lantafort too long. By the time you’re back, we’ll be ready for Operation: Zombie Horde."

Maria clicks away, her heels loud against the stony surface of the pool area.

"You know, Maria," Barns says, biting his tongue but deciding to push it anyway. Maria and Osmond are both friends, after all.

"I know there’s a lot of work to do, but don’t forget to have some fun, eh? You were a lot happier back…when we met. In a chaotic, schemey way, of course…but don’t take things too seriously, eh?"

Maria takes a deep breath. "Someone has to."

On that note, she continues off, joining Osmond to put their plans in motion.

Barns splashes around in the pool a bit, lost in thought. Maybe it was thanks to ’Harden Body’, but he wasn’t shriveling up like a prune even after being in the pool for hours. At least his body was used to being underwater long-term.

The end goal here is to visit an Underwater Kingdom, so he won’t have many opportunities to keep dry during that journey.

He dives under again - determined as ever. He lasts a full four minutes under the water before resurfacing - a new record.

He emerges from the depths of the pool like a merman, flicking his hair back dramatically as he breaks through the still surface of the water. He exhales a sigh of relief.

"Four minutes. I can do better. I know I can."

Before he can dive again, though, he notices yet another visitor has arrived.

"Hey, little bro!" Barns says, excited. Of all the guests he’s had today, Roscoe’s the one he is most excited to see. He feels like he owes the young man so much."

"Hey, big bro," Roscoe replies, definitively less excited. He’s clutching his A rank sword, Crashing Waves. His arms are a little shaky with the blade.

"I know you’re busy with your important training…but do you think you could help me with my training today? Even if you just want to show me the basics - I can train with my sword while you train your lungs!"

Barns smiles at the suggestion. That sounds like a great idea to him - two birds with one stone. He did promise to help Roscoe train, after all.

"Alright, you want to train with me? First things first, put down that sword. We have to start with the fundamentals, my man."

Roscoe nods quickly, setting Crashing Wave down on a beach chair, and then turning back to his teacher.

"Alright. Push-ups, sit-ups. You’ve been doing them every morning like we talked about?"

"Y-yeah!" Roscoe exclaims, squeezing his fist excitedly. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Alright. Then do a hundred more of each!"

"A hundred!?" Roscoe yelps. "There’s no way!"

"You can take breaks if you need to - and I suppose you can subtract the push-ups you did this morning from the total. I’ll keep doing my training until you finish. And then! Then I will show you some sword skills."

"By the time that happens, I’ll be too tired to lift the sword!"

"Nuh-uh, little bro. You gotta have determination! A real warrior fights until their last breath. If you want to get strong - for Yunie’s sake - you have to push yourself even harder."

Roscoe absorbs the lessons like a sponge. "Alright…seventy more push-ups, here we go!"

Roscoe drops to the ground and starts powering through his first set of thirty. Barns watches him as he begins - he’s got good form, and looks steady. The kid will be fine - Barns certainly wasn’t doing such a strenuous training regime at his age.

At that age, Barns was chasing frogs around Scuttle Island and feeding them to Clancy.

The two spent the rest of the morning and afternoon training together. By dinner time, neither of them could so much as walk, and they passed out on the couches in the Adventurer Guild.

For Barns, it’s the best day he’s had in a long time. For Roscoe, it’s one of the best - and most exhausting - days of his entire life.