CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Into the Fire, Part 1

As Sam ran the length of the alleyway, a new notification popped up before him.

NEW MISSION: Rescue Civilians from the Burning Building CONDITION: Save all the tenants trapped on the upper floors of the apartment building. REWARDS: Golden Drachmas x 50, Attribute Points x 5, Increased Favor with the NYC Police Department. WARNING: Failure to complete the mission will result in a member of the NYC Police Department losing faith in the hero.

This mission wasn’t necessary, Sam thought, for he was going to do it regardless of a reward. But he appreciated how Triple-A was quick to jump into continuing his training like that.

Sam had barely reached the edge of the alleyway—smoke from the apartment was already wafting toward him—when he thought it was time to update his stats to improve his chances of success.

He pulled up the radial menu and selected [STATUS].

NAME: Samuel Shepard HERO NAME: None LEVEL: 9 RANK: Zeta (ζ)

“I gained four levels in the asylum, huh,” he noticed. “Not bad.”

ROLE: Support TITLES:

[Trainee who is showing some promise]

[Phantom Slayer]

Sam’s mouth formed a lopsided grin at the sight of his new status. Finally, Triple-A was beginning to recognize his efforts.

Then he tapped on [?] beside [Phantom Slayer] to get a quick peek at what this meant.

TITLE: Phantom Slayer

DESCRIPTION:

This title is given to the hero who has tested his mettle against everyday phantoms.

BOON:

20% increased damage against phantom-type enemies.

“Interesting,” Sam said. “So I also get these bonus titles based on how well I do on missions…”

HEALTH POINTS (HP): 490 STAMINA POINTS (SP): 245 FATIGUE: 0%

Sam noticed that his attributes had once again increased by the same number of times he’d leveled up, all except Willpower, which had increased by five and must have already included the bonus points he’d gotten from completing the last mission. This also included the boons provided by his new mask.

He also noticed that Strength and Dexterity had risen by an extra point, although he didn’t have a clue why this happened.

STRENGTH: 37 (36 + 1) DEXTERITY: 23 (21 + 1 +1) CONSTITUTION: 49 INTELLIGENCE: 19 WISDOM: 18 WILLPOWER: 16 (12 + 2 + 2) POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE: 12

“Dexterity went up past twenty, but I didn’t get any new powers from it either,” Sam sighed. “I’ve got to figure these attributes out when I have time because it feels like they’re weighted like in an RPG game…”

Sam quickly scrolled down and noticed there was a change in his power list too.

ACTIVE:

Healing Hand (ζ)

Herculean (ζ)

PASSIVE:

Regeneration (ζ)

Athleticism (ζ)

“Whoa… when did I get Athleticism?” Sam wondered.

He hadn’t gotten a notification for this passive power, but he guessed all his physical training had something to do with its appearance.

Sam knew he was pressed for time. He’d already wasted a minute browsing his stats, but he also knew that rushing things won’t help him save lives because being forewarned was forearmed.

He tapped on the [?] next to Athleticism.

POWER: Athleticism LEVEL: Zeta (ζ)

DESCRIPTION: Proof that the hero has undergone extensive physical training. Continued training and new workout routines will help to increase the hero’s athleticism. EFFECT ONE: Permanently increases Strength and Dexterity attributes by one. Bonuses increase more per power level. EFFECT TWO: The hero is more durable and can take more damage from an enemy’s physical attack. EFFECT THREE: The hero’s movement speed has increased significantly. The hero is now faster and more nimble than the average zeta and can now perform acrobatic maneuvers without accumulating too much fatigue.

“Holy Zeus…” Sam breathed.

He was floored by how this passive power was exactly what he needed right at this very moment.

“Either the system’s anticipating my needs or Tyche’s blessed me with some good luck for a change,” Sam mused out loud.

The sound of someone screaming at the top of their lungs reached Sam’s ears.

“Help!” cried a hoarse female voice.

Sam’s gaze zoned in on the brown-skinned, heavy-set woman whose frizzy hair had been whipped back by the wind that buffeted her as she screamed for help from the apartment’s rooftop.

“Help!” she cried again.

The memory of Thunder screaming for help flitted across the surface of Sam’s mind, and just like back then, he could feel his body want to charge forward despite the fire raging ahead.

Sam quickly added three points to Strength, bringing its total up to [40] while placing seven points in Dexterity to raise it to [30]. He figured these two stats would help him the most on this mission as he needed both mobility and strength for the challenge ahead.

He left his remaining two points untouched as he didn’t know where to place them yet. Besides, he’d run out of prep time. The mission was a go.

Sam rushed out of the alleyway and endured the intense heat radiating out of the building to reach its back entrance. Luckily, none of the police was camped out here yet.

“Time to be a hero,” Sam whispered.

He pulled open the back doors. Strong hot air rushed out to meet him. It didn’t stop him from moving forward though.

A few steps in and Sam arrived at the lobby. It was a square space with a low ceiling that was already beginning to blacken from the fire raging in the upper floors.

To Sam’s surprise, there were people here. Civilians who’d climbed down despite the coil of smoke clinging to the stairs. They were being aided out by two heroes who’d found the courage to brave the apartment’s front doors.

One of them, the blue-haired healer in the blue jumpsuit called Miracle Girl, kept the front doors open for civilians to pass through.

“Hurry it up, people!” she urged them on. “We haven’t got all night!”

No sooner had she said this when a piece of the ceiling collapsed.

“Oh, crap!” Sam gasped just before his instinct took over and his feet carried him forward. “Look out!”

The portion of the ceiling would have fallen on top of an old couple if Sam hadn’t jumped forward to smack part of the plaster away with his hammer.

He wasn’t the only one to do so.

The other hero, a woman in a skin-tight gray and white suit, leaped up at the same time as Sam and knocked the other half of the plaster ceiling away with a swipe of her clawed hand.

They landed next to each other with their shoulders inches apart. And anyone who’d seen them standing together like that might have remarked on how shabby Sam looked compared to the other hero.

Her suit, which easily showed off her hourglass figure, had silver fur lining her legs, arms, and neckline. She wore a wolf mask that didn’t cover the bottom half of her face which revealed a mouth that had two fangs poking out of the upper lip.

Sam briefly locked gazes with her, and a pair of bright yellow eyes examined his face. A moment later, she said, “Good luck,” as if she’d understood with just a look what Sam was attempting to do.

“Send them down here,” she said in a voice that was almost a growl. “I’ll wait as long as possible.”

Sam nodded. “Okay.”

He ran toward the stairs while thinking Wolf-Woman was extremely cool, almost as cool as Thunder, even. He could only hope that he was worthy of the faith she’d just placed on him.

Sam reached the second-floor landing where the walls were already beginning to burn. Thick black smoke hung over the ceiling like nimbus clouds.

His gaze drifted toward the hallway. There were six doors on either side of it. All of them were open.

“Looks like the tenants already evacuated this floor,” Sam said. “Thank the gods.”

His teal-colored eyes moved on to the stairwell. Smoke was coiling down its steps like a thick black fog in some nightmare scene from a campy horror movie.

Sam let out a deep breath. “Now or never, Sam…”

He moved up the stairs while taking care to cover his mouth with the sleeve of his left arm.

Luckily for Sam, his visibility wasn’t impaired one bit as he climbed up. He guessed this was because of his new mask.

Unfortunately, the smoke was now all around him, making it extremely difficult to breathe. He kept on coughing until his breathing could adjust to the stench.

As soon as Sam reached the third floor, the heat and smoke got so intense that he doubled over and nearly puked out his lunch.

“Oh, gods,” Sam said right before another coughing fit. “Right now… I really wish… I was fireproof.”

To lift himself, Sam made the mistake of grabbing onto a burning piece of railing.

“Styx!” Sam yelled as he pulled his hand away, his palm throbbing painfully.

His gaze drifted down to his burned right palm, and he watched wide-eyed as it began to quickly heal on its own until not even scar tissue remained.

“I am never getting used to that,” he grinned. He couldn’t help it. Regeneration had saved his butt yet again. It also gave him that slight push he needed to press on. “I can do this.”

It was impossible to tell if any of the apartment units weren’t empty as most of the floor was engulfed in a blaze so hot that a bucket’s worth of sweat was dripping down Sam’s body. So he assumed that there was no one around to save, and he was already moving toward the staircase when he heard what sounded like a cough from somewhere close by.

"Okay..." Sam let out a nervous breath. "I think there's someone here after all..."