New World Day 10

As the crimson tidal wave roared towards me, a powerful buzzing noise washed over me. It caused my ears to ache and my face to pale. I knew what was out there now. That entire red wave was composed of thousands and thousands of insects. The buzz of their wings now filled the air all around me. That distinctive noise was unmistakable. The swarm of insects was only moments away from reaching the door when I started to back away from it. I started with just a couple of halting steps backwards before I broke and ran for the bedroom door. How was I supposed to deal with a swarm of that size? If they were magical insects as I feared then it wasn’t even guaranteed that I could kill them by smacking them with an axe let alone my hands. I thought that fire might work well against such a swarm, but I wasn’t at the point where I could use any magic. I sprinted for the bedroom door and wondered if I had anything that I could substitute for fire magic. When I reached the door, I glanced over my shoulder to the garage door and cursed aloud, “Shit!”

The door kept most of them out, but some of them snuck through the cracks along the edges. I ripped open the door and slammed it shut behind. No need to be quiet now that they all know that I’m here. Speed was of the essence at this point. I circulated my mana throughout my entire body as I raced into the bathroom and yanked open the cabinet doors under the sink. Hidden in the depths of the cabinet were a number of large beach towels covered in patterns of oranges and blues. I grabbed the towels and ran back to the door to the garage. The buzz of the swarm dimmed when I slammed the door, but it soon began to pick back up. They were getting closer. I was sure of it.

I crammed one of the towels into the crack at the base of the door and turned to head for the steps. I climbed up the steps towards the first floor three at a time and jammed another towel into the crack along the floor there as well. It wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot, but it was a start. I jumped down the steps even quicker than I had climbed them and ran to the door to the workshop. I heard the buzzing grow louder than ever. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and dashed down the hallway with such speed that my momentum almost sent me crashing into the metal shelves as I turned the corner towards the door to the garage. My mana was circulating at such a speed now that it began to leak out of the mana veins and strengthen my body. It pushed my physical body to new heights, but I didn’t have the best control of my enhanced body yet. I whipped around that corner and noticed a few red dots floating in the hallway right in front of the door. Damn, some of them had slipped through into this room already. I hoped that they would all follow me to the bedroom instead of spreading out through the basement.

I didn’t know what these insects were capable, but I knew from the hellscape outside that they were dangerous. Without missing a step, I barreled down the hallway and slammed a towel into the crack along the floor. I turned without a pause and ran towards one of the metal shelves lining the hallway when my it felt like my right arm disappeared. I panicked and looked at my right arm to verify that it was still there. The arm was still there, but it was so numb that it was like a stage magician had whisked it away. I studied my arm and saw one little speck of red sitting on the middle of my right forearm. I watched in horror as the speck of red grew in size and my entire arm starting with the immediate area around the speck grew paler and paler. I knew the identity of the insect that made up the monstrous swarm outside. It was a swarm of magical mosquitos! The damn things sucked blood at a far faster rate, and they numbed the entire limb that they latched onto. At this rate a single mosquito could drain me dry in minutes and a swarm in seconds.

I could still move my right arm if I thought hard about it, but it was slow to react. I forced it to wave around erratically in an attempt to throw the mosquito off, but it wasn’t budging. No other choice then. I raised my left hand and smashed it down upon the mosquito on my right arm with a resounding smack. If it had been an ordinary mosquito it would have been dead a hundred times over after a hit like that, but this one was of a hardier nature. The mosquito had been crushed into my forearm at the very center of a deep red handprint, but within moments it was struggling back to its feet. I raised my left hand again and a series of smacks echoed through the workshop as I continued to run down the hallway. Five slaps with all my enhanced strength. That’s how much effort it took to kill just one of those mosquitos, and there were a countless number of them out there. I needed to find a way to kill them quicker and in large groups. The idea of using fire magic had fluttered through my mind in the garage, and I had rejected it because I had no idea how to use it. Magic wasn’t the only way to create fire though. I skidded to a stop in front of the middle set of metal shelves instead of turning the corner and heading for the bedroom. I needed to grab a couple of things from here. It took a bit of rummaging, but I managed to find the two things that I needed. A bottle of WD-40 and a full roll of duct tape.

I grabbed them with my left hand and turned back towards the bedroom, but before I could start running for the bedroom door, the sensations from my left leg disappeared just like my right arm. I looked over my shoulder and saw two mosquitos on the back of my left leg. One right in the crook of my knee and one at the bottom of my calf. These frikken mosquitoes might really be the death of me at this rate. Their needle like mouths were so long and sharp that they could get me even through my jeans. I switched the can of WD-40 and duct tape to my right hand and swung back at the two mosquitoes with my left hand. I smacked the two bastards with all of the force I could muster even as I dragged my lame leg down the rest of the hallway to the bedroom door. These two mosquitoes only took four swats before they died, but I saw that even my left arm had grown pale now. I couldn't take much more of this. Just three of them had sucked so much blood that I looked like an albino.

As dire as the situation was, I had a plan. It wasn’t the best of plans but it might work if the mosquitoes were as stupid as normal mosquitoes. I grabbed one of the buckets of water and a cup with my left hand, pulled open the door to the bedroom with my right, and slammed it shut behind me with such force that the entire wall shook. What the hell was that? I guess I need to be more careful when I boosted my strength with mana. More and more mana leaked into my body from the mana veins, and my strength increased at an incredible pace. If it was any other time I would be ecstatic, but I had more pressing matters to attend to. I stopped by the door just long enough to shove the fourth towel into the crack at the base and drop the bucket of water next to the door before I ran to the bathroom again. I snagged three more beach towels from under the sink, and one final item, a small red lighter. The kind of lighter where you pressed a button on the back of it before pulling a trigger to light the flame. Laughing wildly I thought, makeshift flamethrower here I come.

Of course, the flamethrower wasn’t the whole plan. The whole plan was to block as many as I could with the towels, and then I would barbecue the ones that managed to make it in before I got everything blocked off. The water was to put out any fires and to quench my thirst after things settled down. I had no idea how long I would have to hole up in the bedroom before the bugs would go away. If they ever did… That was a disheartening thought, but I had to think positively. I knew bugs didn’t tend to have a very long life span. I just had to outlast them. I shoved the WD-40 and lighter in my pocket so that I had room to hold the towels and duct tape with one hand and arm. I raced from the bathroom to the door to the workshop, used my right hand and my teeth to tear off a few pieces of duct tape from the roll, and the taped a beach towel around the entire frame of the door. It took only moments to finish, and then I was off to the door to the garage to duplicate the process. I managed to get both of those doors covered before any could get into the bedroom, but when I looked up the stairwell towards the door to the first floor, I saw dozens of red specks floating in the air. I might need that bucket of water sooner than I thought.

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 4 13%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 4 95%

Fool (B) LVL 7 90%

Pack Killer (B) LVL 3 81%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 3 76%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 5 97%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 6 14%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Curious Fool ( C ) LVL 3 71%

Stupid Fool ( C ) LVL 3 37%

Extremely Stubborn Fool ( C ) LVL 2 97%

Lesser Mana Wielder (UC) LVL N/A

Title Points:

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29

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Spirit

Bonus Points:

45/125

34/42

7.50 per min (-2.75)

13

9

9

6

12

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist,

Poison Resist, Spiritual Cracks x3, Blurred Vision

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 7 56%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 4 78%

Minor Regen (Passive) © LVL 4 72%

Basic Spirit Regen (Passive) (B) LVL 7 90%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 6 88%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 6 94%

Basic Poison Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 5 17%

Minor Mana Control © LVL 4 26%

Lesser Mana Vein (Passive) (UC) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 1 0%

Pain Control (B) LVL 1 0%

Basic Close Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 1 83%

Basic Ranged Combat Footwork (Active) (B) LVL 1 92%

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