Maids VS Apocalypse

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Quest: Seal the Rift

Difficulty: D

Natalia Greenhorn, the Head General leading the Peace Keeper Delegation sent to your world, has tasked you with sealing a number of category E Dimensional Rifts that have appeared around Stonegate city.

Clear Condition: Seal all category E Dimensional Rifts in Stonegate city (sealed Dimensional Rifts 00/ 37)

Clear Reward: 100 AP

Failure Penalty: -100 AP.

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Mark checked the quest description once again and cursed. According to Natalie, when it comes to tears in the Dimensional Border, category E was the lowest on the scale.

The Dimensional Rifts assigned as such were supposed to be the smallest and didn’t pose much danger, but seeing the hoard of rock-type monsters, Mark couldn’t help but disagree.

"I mean, can’t we just seal the hole and leave?" He asked again. "You can distract them while I-"

"That won’t do." Ramsay shook his head. "You should use this chance to get some practice."

Mark’s expression twisted with disgust, but the brown man only turned to Lara next.

"You won’t be helping him either."

Lara’s ruby eyes widened a little.

"Hey! Who said you can order her around?" Mark growled.

"I am your superior," Ramsay scoffed. "That makes me her superior as well. Of course I can give her orders."

"You think I give a damn, Sergeant Stalker?" Mark’s anger increased further, but the Peace Keeper seemed unperturbed. "I won’t be long before I become your boss. How about you save yourself the trouble and start acting like it already happened?"

"Keep dreaming. I just got promoted the other day and I’m going to enjoy being your superior till the very end."

The Peace Keepers seemed to be following a ranking structure similar to that of the NUSA army. Both of them were enlisted soldiers, but since he joined just a few hours ago, Mark was a Private.

Ramsay, on the other hand, had recently jumped from Specialist to Sergeant all thanks to the mission he had been handling in the past two years.

"You owe that promotion to me, remember?"

"I don’t owe you shit. Now, how about you get your ass moving, Private White?"

The smugness oozing from the Peace Keeper reaffirmed Mark’s resolution to kill him.

All of it felt somewhat ironic.

After years of stressing over the military draft, Mark found himself being conscripted anyway. That said, he never expected that he would find himself in some inter-dimensional police army.

As much as he wanted to give him the middle finger, Mark felt that he would never hear the end of it if he kept bickering with his so-called superior. That’s why he turned his focus to the quest assigned to him.

The Stone Rhinos looked like something straight out of Monster Hunter. Mark knew for sure that someone like him could do nothing against them when he had no combat training to speak of.

Most of his stats were below the average for his age as well －according to Rebecca－ so expecting him to go around killing mammoth-sized abominations was way too much to ask.

Ramsay remained strangely calm as he stared back at Mark. After a few seconds he heaved a sigh and turned in the hoard’s direction.

"What’s your level?" He asked.

Mark didn’t answer right away, confused whether he was asking about his own level or the Level of his LRGS. He slowly averted his gaze, and his previous aggression seemed to fade.

"One..." He said in a low voice.

"Raise your voice, Private!" Ramsay’s voice was full of mockery as he leaned toward him with a hand behind his ear. "Are you answering me or answering yourself!?"

The veins on Mark’s temples bulged and he was ready to slug the brown man at any moment.

"Well, I expected as much." The Sergeant shrugged. "Listen, those things are called Stone Rhinos. They are different from the monsters you fought the other day."

"Oh yeah? How?"

"I’m about to explain so shut it and listen." Heaving a sigh, Ramsay shook his head then continued. "To put it simply, the monsters from the other day were Malarak’s followers and offspring. They are more human than their appearance might lead you to believe."

Mark’s frown eased up a little.

"You said something like that before."

"So you were paying attention." The Peace Keeper sighed. "To put it simply, only sentient beings get infected with Madness. Don’t let their grotesque appearance fool you, though. It might not seem like it, but a lot of them can use the same abilities as us Awakened."

Mark remembered Malarak’s crown and the halos that appeared above the monsters that poured into the city then recalled the one Lara produced. Though their shapes were different, it was difficult to deny that they shared similar natures.

If only sentient beings could use them, that would mean the monsters they fought were capable of intelligent thought, which only served to show how terrifying Madness was.

A decease that could rob one of their free will and turn them into a monster that can only chase after their darkest desires. As soon as he learned about it, Mark felt indescribable relief knowing that the LRGS existed. Without it, he would have become a walking disaster that needed to be put down.

"The Stone Rhinos aren’t Fallen." Ramsay continued his explanation. "They are normal animals that mutated for one reason or another. The Underworld is a tough place to live in so adapting is the only way to survive."

Mark still wasn’t convinced.

"And how does that make them any less dangerous?"

"It means that even a level 01 like you can kill a few. All you need is to hit them with your Force Field since they can’t create one to defend with."

There was a moment of silence as the two stared at each other. Mark was waiting for the other guy to say more, but it soon became apparent that he didn’t have much to say.

"Isn’t the Force Field a defensive ability?" He asked.

"You know what they say." Ramsay smiled at him. "The best offense is good defense."

"Isn’t it the other way around?" Sighing, Mark shook his head. "Forget it. Just tell me how to do it."

The Force Field was a constantly active ability that coated the body of an Awakened in a protective layer. Supposedly it can block anything as long as the user has enough MP to fuel it, but Mark didn’t know how that can be used to kill mutated monsters.

With several seconds passing without him receiving an answer, he looked up and saw his superior grinning at him.

"Figure it out yourself."

Mark felt another pang of anger. Sighing, he turned to his maid with the question. She seemed to think about it for a while as if trying to recall some ancient knowledge she hadn’t used in a very long time.

"A strong enough Force Field is capable of destroying anything it comes into contact with." She said. "All you have to do is increase its output to the limit. You should be able to feel it by focusing on pushing away the air surrounding you."

Mark still had no idea how to do it, but he decided to follow his maid’s instructions and focus. He remembered the first Lizardman she killed and how her hand fists were glowing at the time.

He also recalled her entire body glowing as she fought the horde of Fallen trying to swarm them.

The image he got told him the Force Field was something akin to the aura from a certain Hunter anime. That helped him visualize it a lot better, allowing him to make a lot of progress right away.

’Let’s see... If I think about it as increasing the density of the barrier that’s surrounding my body all the time...’

Not long after, Mark began to sense a change around him. He focused on that sensation and realized it responded to his thoughts, enhancing and weakening it as he willed it to.

"Master..."

Lara’s voice snapped him back to reality. Mark opened his eyes and looked at his maid, but a light glow drew his attention and he gazed at his hands.

They were coated in a light green glow. It was a little translucent, but focusing on it changed that. The glow grew in intensity and soon enough his skin was no longer visible.

It wasn’t just his hands; his entire body was covered in the green glow. Mark was lost in the sensation for a while when Lara called out to him again.

"Master!"

Distracted for a second time, the glow disappeared. He gave the girl a questioning look, but she sighed before responding as if disappointed by something.

"Master, using your Force Field puts a strain on your mind. You must not unleash its full output outside desperate situations."

"Right..."

Mark didn’t feel anything, but Lara was the expert on this matter so he trusted her words. Ramsay was looking at him with a frown, arms crossed in thought.

"What?"

"I... I didn’t think you would figure it out this soon..."

"Well, neither did I," Mark replied then looked down at his hands once more.

His second try went much smoother. He increased the output gradually until the glow was noticeable, then he tried decreasing it in certain parts of his body while keeping the rest the same.

That required a lot more focus than before and after a while, Mark began to notice the strain Lara spoke of.

"I guess this is what a 150 Mind stat can do." Ramsay sighed. "By the way, as the young miss said, using your Force Field, or any other abilities for that matter, puts a strain on your mind. You can track what you can and can’t do by keeping an eye on your MP."

"Magic Points?"

"Mind Power."

Mark opened his Player Menu and checked his MP. It was down to 98/100, meaning his little experiment just now was enough to drain two points.

"The number is a percentage," Ramsay added. "Make sure it’s always above 50."