Beginning Run 30.
Set Attributes.
Strength 5
Endurance 10
Agility 5
Intelligence 20
Luck 10
Putting any points in luck still seemed like a scam, but he wanted to try the sharpshooter class. The system had said the class favored intelligence and luck, but Father had no idea what that actually meant. He hoped it would make more sense once he reached the checkpoint.
Father drove over the first lobster and took the baseball bat. Every time he had fought the pigfish, he had either been too fast for them to handle or caught them by surprise. With a low strength and agility, he wasn’t sure if either of those would work.
He would follow his normal routine, and hope it was enough.
As the pigfish approached, Father swung the baseball bat, clubbing the fish across the head. It had been drawing its gun, which fired and put a hole through the other pigfish’s head.
Both of them fell to the ground simultaneously.
“Oh. Luck.” Father fought the urge to restart with even more points in luck.
He took the handguns, got into the police car, and drove it to Trash Co. If he wanted to stop more pigfish from arriving after he killed Mister Logs, he could either destroy the phone or kill the receptionist. Father watched the fish through the front door. It seemed unnecessarily harsh to kill the fish for no reason. Plenty of the things he had done could be considered unnecessarily harsh, but that was a road Father was unwilling to venture down.
The pigfish that answered the call from Trash Co. brought valuable ammo, and now that he knew how to reload and properly handle his weapons, that ammo would be important upon entering the Reef.
Father checked his guns and walked inside. He nodded to the receptionist and walked right by into the hallway of offices. The snow crab was in his usual position, leaning on the doorframe.
Father pressed a gun barrel against the crab’s head. “Scum.” He sprayed crab meat into the isopod’s office. As soon as the snow crab dropped, Father aimed at the isopod and fired. He stuck the guns back into his waistband, retrieved the shotgun, and ventured back to the manager’s office. A quick glance confirmed the receptionist was already calling the police, which was perfect. He was right on track.
Father opened the door with the shotgun raised. “Hello, Logs.”
1st Checkpoint Boss
Mister Logs
The eel’s head peeked out from the deep shadows. “Who—”
“I’m looking for my Son. I know the Hardbody Crustaceans are in the Buttress of the Reef, but I don’t know how to get there.”
“The Reef?” Mister Logs slowly floated closer to his desk. His body seemed to squirm more than usual. He hadn’t darted out or shown any signs of aggression.
“The Buttress.” Father stayed perfectly still, shotgun aimed. If Mister Logs lunged, the gun barrel would be perfectly placed to put a full shot into the eel’s mouth.
“Take Reef Flat Road, through the fancy Crests, and down the hill.” Mister Logs stuck his head a little farther out. “It’s not that difficult.”
“Reef Flat Road?”
“Yes.”
Father nodded and took a step forward. “Thank you.”
Something pale flashed in the corner of Father’s eye. Without high agility, he couldn’t hope to react fast enough to dodge. He instinctively pulled the trigger of the shotgun, shooting a wide blast that uselessly sunk into Mister Logs’s skin.
The eel’s tail smashed into Father’s stomach, sending him flying back through the door and into the lobby. He crashed into the wall behind reception and wheezed in a breath. Cracks snaked out from the point of impact, and every little movement caused those cracks to continue slithering across Father’s shell.
“Your tail?” Father asked through a wheeze. He fumbled around with his claws, searching for a weapon, but he had dropped the shotgun and the handguns had fallen away somewhere else. He was without a weapon to even make the death less painful. “You’ve never used your tail before.”
“Before?” Mister Logs slithered through the doorway and hovered menacingly above Father. “I have never met you before.”
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Father tried to sit up. A chunk of his shell popped off, leaving flesh underneath exposed.
Mister Logs licked his lips. “You must have lost your mind. I’ll fix that for you.”
Father let his head fall back. There was nothing he could do. Not this time. The tail wouldn’t surprise him again.
Beginning Run 31.
Set Attributes.
Strength 5
Endurance 10
Agility 0
Intelligence 20
Luck 15
He felt sluggish as he stepped out of the car, but Father was too curious about higher luck to waste the points elsewhere.
Father rubbed the blood off his forehead and let it wash off in the water. With his endurance at ten, he didn’t have to worry about the headache. Intelligence of twenty still seemed an odd attribute for sharpshooter, but it wasn’t like he really knew how any of it worked.
The Hardbody Crustacean lobster walked out of the ditch on unsteady feet. Father did his best to look weak. It didn’t take that much skill in acting since he had almost no strength increase and no speed increase.
The lobster stepped on a rock, rolled his ankle, and fell face first onto the street. The bat bounced away.
Father watched it roll to a stop.
“Ugh.” The lobster pushed himself off the road. “Can’t believe you hit me,” he mumbled. “You got some balls.”
Father walked up and stomped on the lobster’s head. “I really underestimated luck.”
The pigfish rolled up and hesitantly got out of the car. Father leaned against his car with a claw pressed to the wound on his forehead. Both pigfish unlatched their holstered handguns and kept a fin near as they approached.
Unlike other times, they both walked up to Father first.
Maybe he had overestimated luck. The police brutality debuff was too severe to deal with again.
Father reached out, pulled the handgun free from the pigfish’s holster, and shot both before they even reacted. “Lucky the safety was off.” He stuck the handgun into the waistband of his shorts. “Alright. I get it.”
Getting to Trash Co. was starting to feel like a commute to work, and Father wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Probably bad. It wasn’t like he ever slept or had a morning routine. There was no showering, eating, or anything else. It was easier to just shoot himself in the head and restart then to sit and eat a meal while his Son was suffering.
Father got the shotgun, walked back to the manager’s office, and took a moment. When the system introduced Mister Logs, it always outlined the eel in a faint yellow light. It traveled from his head to his tail, so his best option was to use that outline to find the eel’s tail and keep an eye on its movement.
If it didn’t work, he would try something new.
Father opened the door calmly, aimed the shotgun, and strode into the eel's office.
1st Checkpoint Boss
Mister Logs
Mister Logs peeked out of the shadows and watched warily. “Who are you?”
“Father.” He approached the desk and watched the yellow outline pass from the eel’s head to its body. The giant creature was truly coiled in the back of the office. Even as Mister Logs drifted closer to the desk, Father watched closely, ensuring the tail wasn’t going to get another surprise attack.
It was moving, but not fast enough to currently be a problem. The tail was mostly tucked under the rest of the eel’s body. The last of the yellow light faded as Mister Logs stopped on the other side of the desk.
“What do you want?”
“I need to kill you to get the first checkpoint.”
“What?”
Father shot a spray of buckshot into the eel’s face. He dropped the shotgun and pulled out both handguns as fast as he could move.
Mister Logs recoiled and opened his mouth just enough that Father was able to get one of a handful of shots to sink into the soft flesh of the eel’s mouth.
Father stepped to the side, anticipating some attack. The tail did whip out, but more wildly than the last time. Mister Logs lunged immediately after with a wide maw of needle-like teeth.
Father emptied both handguns into the eel’s mouth.
1st Checkpoint Boss
Mister Logs
Defeated.
Father put the handguns in his waistband even as words continued forming in his vision.
Continue or Return to Start?
Father tapped Continue and retrieved the shotgun. He adjusted his grip and strode back to the lobby.
Choose a Class.
Sharpshooter - When seeing the life in your enemy’s eyes is too much, shoot them from afar. Adept with all firearms. Sharpshooters gained abilities through wielding different firearms. Favors Intelligence and Luck.
Father ignored the receptionist who was panicking while speaking with the police. He walked right out to the curb and squatted behind the parked police car.
Sharpshooter.
Confirm?
Father clicked confirm and watched the flashing lights of the approaching police car.
Checkpoint 1 Reached.
As soon as the police car parked, Father stood with the shotgun raised. Unlike with athlete, sharpshooter hadn’t given him a full set of abilities from the start. It mattered what kind of gun he used.
Focused Spread
Armor Pierce
Ignition
The difference between getting to hurdle a group of enemies and making a shot from a shotgun into a fire blast was unbelievable.
Ignition
The pigfish looked at Father and reached for their weapons while still seated inside the car. Father pulled the trigger and flinched as a bright blast of fire shot from the barrel. The buckshot had a wide spread, but most hit the police car window, shattered the glass, and ignited everything inside.
Water boiled around the police car as the inside burned.
Father pumped the shotgun.
It was empty.
Ignition
Uses all the ammo present within the firearm to add thermal power to the next shot fired. The more ammo loaded makes the thermal power stronger.
Father waited for the fires to be smothered by the ocean’s water before opening the door. Their guns had melted to their charred bodies and any ammo that had been inside the car was long gone.
Father made a note in his mind for his next run because there was bound to be another run.
“Time to find this Buttress.” He walked back to his car and drove away from Trash Co.
