Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 123: Spoils of War

“Ambassador Schulz, welcome to my humble abode. Please, take a seat.” Isaac greeted, making a ‘please come in’ gesture with his left hand, the only one he had remaining. His right arm had already regrown to the point where he’d nearly regained his elbow, much faster than the first limb he’d regrown, but it was still nowhere near useable.

He was currently sitting in a chair by the window, back ramrod straight and giving off an aura of competency and alertness. Even though he’d initially been leery of the mass of new knowledge and experiences in his head, and it had been strange, but now, he was incredibly glad to have it.

Isaac used to have ten years of combat experience to draw on, but with his new [Class], another fifty-odd years of that had gotten tacked on, as well as knowledge on how to handle people and politics, the kind of knowledge that couldn’t be taught, only learned from experience.

He’d managed to muddle through thus far, drawing on the life experience no one could have expected him to have, supplementing his meager acting skills with [Hundred Faces], but what he could do now surpassed all that by a mile, and he didn’t even need to purchase or use a [Skill]. One of his new [Class’] [Skills], [Legacy of a True Warrior] would have further boosted the inherited knowledge, but he couldn’t get that just yet. Besides, he was getting by perfectly well just with the knowledge he’d gotten when he’d grabbed the [Class].

In summation, the challenge when greeting the German ambassador didn’t stem from trying to appear truly professional, it came from the fact that he didn’t want the change to overly obvious, at least not at first. The fact that he held an inheritance [Class] would probably come out, through the [Skills] he taught others if nothing else, but if he got one was suddenly completely different, that might put others off using inheritance [Classes].

Also, none of his other [Classes’] names were written down anywhere, at least none except for his first one. That meant that if people assumed he’d always had an ‘heir’ [Class], which would offer a convenient excuse for most of his eccentricities.

“Of course, how could I do otherwise?” Schulz asked, pulling up the second chair and sitting down “I realize that you haven’t had to go to an embassy for help before, but something that isn’t talked about all that much is that their purpose is to be a source of help in case of emergency for people far from home.”

While Schulz talked, he drew a wad of papers out of his briefcase.

“As such, among other things, I’ve been working tirelessly to ensure that you receive all the recognition and rewards you are due for your efforts a few days ago.”

“Meaning?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The Demon Lord that died just fifty kilometers north of this city is the only [Raid Boss] to have been killed, ever and people are appropriately desperate to get their hands on its body. Under normal circumstances, people might summon one of their own, but given the near disaster that was the battle against the first one, they’re holding off on that. Which leaves just one possible source of those materials: the body of the first [Raid Boss].

“So now everyone and their dog wants a bit of that monster and you’ve been cooped up in here since the incident in question. As such, I’ve been working tirelessly to support your claim commiserate with your contribution. It took a while, but I was able to dig up the picture of your kill notification and ascertain the fact that you are owed 38% of the reward. I …”

“Let me stop you right there.” Isaac interrupted, holding up his hand to stop the diplomat “First of all, I appreciate you stepping up to the bat to ensure I get what I am owed, at least from a certain point of view. However, I’m afraid I have a bit of an issue with how you’re handling this.

“Primarily, loot distribution based on kill contribution based on XP gains leaves out the fallen, and the logistics personnel, and that is not a precedent I am comfortable setting.

“In addition, there’s the small issue of me already having made arrangements as to the loot distribution.”

The look on Schulz’s face was … hard to describe using a single word. Heartbreaking was perhaps an adequate way of putting it, but that was still incomplete.

It was the look a child might wear after being promised a puppy for Christmas, only find out a couple of days before the big event that not only weren’t they getting a puppy, but the holiday had been cancelled in its entirety, except said child was still attempting to put on a brave face. After all, this was a career politician he was talking to, they didn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves. And yet Isaac knew that on the inside, Schulz had to be feeling just like that child.

“If that’s the case, why did you take this meeting with me in the first place?” Schulz worked out after a long moment of shocked silence.

Normally, Isaac would have just shrugged and phrased the next statement as a joke, but now, he didn’t. Instead, he calmly leaned forwards, folding his hands on the tiny hospital table between them, and spoke.

“Well, Mr. Schulz, I wanted to talk to you, face to face, and then you offered to have this meeting. Need I say more?

“Of course, seeing as the loot is what this meeting should have been about, I’ll tell you about what’s going to happen to it. The Least Demon Lord dropped three Aspects, the first of which has gone to an army [General], Guildmaster Seon took possession of the second and I’ll be slotting the third once I get the base Aspect I’ve been promised so I can build on it.

“In addition, several bits of the body have remained suspiciously intact even though the body itself has been savaged. Four bones perfectly sized for swords, a few pieces of hide that turned into leather, and two crystals that are apparently intended to be turned into [Mages’] staffs. I’ve received one bone and a crystal.

“Lastly, there’s the body itself, which could turn out to be refinable into something useable. I’m getting a flat ten percent of the mass of viscera and bone splinters that was left after the fight and I’m willing to share. My team will, of course, get some of that, but we can hardly use all of it. The rest, on the other hand, will be disseminated to people and institutions who are likely to be able to crack their secrets, and one of those institutions will be the Federal Republic of Germany. If nothing else, they’ll be able to do certain experiments using machines and materials that mere mortals such as myself would never be allowed to use.”

“That’s … very generous.” Schulz said, dabbing at the beads of sweat that had formed as Isaac talked as he did so.

Part of the reason why Isaac was so willing to share this stuff because keeping it all would have been a major fight. As Schulz had so adequately put it ‘everyone and their dog’ was desperate to get their hands on this stuff.

But it was hardly the main reason. A Demon Lord’s blood and tissue could be alchemically reduced to an oil-like substance that was very similar to gasoline, but inordinately powerful. A shot glass’ worth of the stuff could take a plane around the globe, for fucks sake. It could bring around massive innovations in aviation, automobiles, and space explorations … and the only thing Isaac knew about it was to not put that literal hellstuff in a normal engine because it would get blown to kingdom come. Everything else, well, that would have to be discovered the old fashioned way.

“Now, there is something I’d like to ask of you.” Isaac added, earning a decently well-hidden internal groan from the politician “Nothing overly tedious, I can assure you. I’d like to request a diplomatic transport back to Germany. For me because of the obvious issues I’ll have flying commercial in the foreseeable future, and the materials because I don’t have the space to keep them in my spatial storage.”

“Mr. Thoma, of course we can do that, but we would have offered that as a matter of course.” Schulz assured him.

“Probably.” Isaac said flatly “But I find that it’s good to have an actual confirmation on matters like that. As that saying goes ‘when you assume, you make an ass-of-u-and-me’. It’s a bit silly, but it fits. However, that is also not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Schulz had calmed down somewhat, but he still seemed nervous “And that would be?”

“You.” Isaac said, earning a nervous jolt from the other man “Specifically, your role as Germany’s ambassador to South Korea.

“I’m certain you have received countless instructions on what to do and how to do it from your bosses in the government, but I’d still like to talk to you about a few things. As the ambassador, you’re the primary contact point between Germany and South Korea, and you might not even be aware of the true importance of your position.

“You see, there are only so many places that have come through the [System’s] arrival relatively intact and with a proper form of government, this nation being one of them, alongside Kanda, large chunks of Europe, Australia, Singapore, and so on. Places with dictatorships, countries where those in power used to keep it by force of arms, are now in shambles as people desperately try to gain the strength to either take control or keep it. The US is fine for the most part, but there are a lot of people who tried to claim large areas as ‘theirs’, which is causing trouble. Japan tends to alternate between better than fine and totally not fine, depending on the area. And so on, and so forth.

“South Korea, meanwhile, has flourished. And in a way, so has Germany. We’re on the leading edge of [System] science, we have the means to deal with monsters both in the form of military might and powerful individuals and while our [System]-crimes agency is still squatting in the basements of other agencies, they exist and still only need a little polishing. We can do a lot for each other. Information on proper Dungeon creation and farming, tricks on safely summoning, German engineering and Korean magic, etc. There are countless worthwhile allies, of course, but you’re not the ambassador to those people, so I won’t bother you with that.

“My point is a deeper alliance with this great country we find ourselves in could do a lot of good for Germany. It could also help the world as a whole, but that isn’t your priority, is it?”

Isaac flashed him a grim smile “I’m well aware of the fact that I’m in no position to be issuing orders, but there is something I can give you, my name. In the last few days, it has begun to carry a not insignificant weight in this country and while I lack formal power both here and back home, we’re both fully aware of the fact that there are other kinds of power. So if you would be so kind, try and use this to your full advantage?”

Though the ambassador still held his decent poker face, he’d acquired some serious pit stains during Isaac’s little speech.

“I … I suppose I can do that.” Schulz swallowed wet his dry throat “That’s a rather novel way of looking at it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Isaac nodded graciously “I hope your day will be more pleasant going forward than mine has been.”

He waved at the ambassador with the regrowing stump of his arm.

“Me too. Gute Besserung.” The ambassador gave the German equivalent of ‘get well soon’ and got up to leave.

“Oh, and one more thing.” Isaac called after him “I’ve called for a little press conference in tomorrow, noon, outside the Dungeon Guild’s headquarters. Guildmaster Seon has already been drumming up some awareness, and so have a few others, but a little help from you would be much appreciated.”

“I will.” Schulz nodded and began to hurry out of the room. The instant the door fell closed again, Isaac walked into the bathroom, pulled off the gauze covering his face and went to work.

This wasn’t a trick he could have used on his shoulder sadly. Fixing an arm would require fixing all the places the various muscles and ligaments attached, which in turn would have required him to either remove a large part of his torso or get the help of a surgeon to directly dig those places free. But on his face … yes.

He was using a pocket mirror and a toothpick his [Blades] had turned into a proper weapon and channeled a fully empowered [Sundering Strike] into it. The flesh the blade touched instantly weakened to the point where it practically fell apart as Isaac channeled more and more mana into the [Skill].

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

With every move of the knife, a mess of blood and tissue fell from his skull, splatting into the wash basin. With every cut, more and more of his insides were laid bare, fresh skin growing over the area while some portions remained scarred. That was where there were deeper injuries.

But even as Isaac subjected himself to things that even the most hardcore of masochists would have flinched at, it felt … oddly liberating. Like the weight of the battle was dropping off his shoulders. The most visible of the injuries which remained was vanishing, cut by bloody cut. It would have been painful without his pain mitigation, but even then, it would have been the good kind of pain, the one that meant you were getting better.

In the end, one could still see he’d been injured on the right side of his face, but it was a ‘held a sparkler to close to my cheek’ kind of damage, rather than a ‘got my face burned off’ horrific scar.

Now that he was presentable, he gave his mother a quick call to prove that the ‘I’m fine’ statements he’d given earlier hadn’t been him talking out of his ass, then told her he wanted to talk properly in person when he got back to mollify her.

***

Eventually, a young woman in the ‘half armor, half trendy clothing’ outfit of a Hunter with an F-Rank badge at her belt visited Isaac in his hospital room.

“Guildmaster Seon sent you this package, along with a message.”

She placed both a small box and an envelope on the table near the window, throwing surreptitious looks at Isaac, stars in her eyes.

“Tell him thank you from me.” Isaac replied “And thank you for bringing these.”

She began to head out of the room, then stopped and turned around, stuttering out “Thank you … thank you for saving the city. I …”

“You’re welcome.” Isaac said “Have a nice evening.”

After she had left, he checked out the stuff he’d received. The package contained an Aspect of a weaker Demon that gave 5 Agility, and a very weak fire attack that he could upgrade with his Aspect of the Least Demon Lord.

The letter, on the other hand, was not the silly little note from Yoo-jin he’d expected, but rather a formal summons to an awards ceremony. Medals to be received, five days from now. He was going to be stuck in this nation for a while, wasn’t he?

But that was a problem of future Isaac. Present Isaac had some Aspects to grab. The weaker Aspect was absorbed in seconds, but he didn’t even bother to read the [Skill] description, instead absorbing the Aspect of the Demon Lord an instant later.

Aspect of the Demon Lord:

This is the distilled essence of what makes a Demon Lord a Demon Lord. Physical Power, control over the most lethal flame in existence, an immensely powerful personal defense Skill or merely a way to guarantee a little breathing room, no matter how obstinate the people bugging you may be, if you don’t choose to take on the form of a demon for a brief moment to take care of things in a far more direct manner, that is.

Requirements for Activation:

5,000 XP

Open Aspect Slot

Grants:

+10 Strength

+10 Constitution

One of the following Skills:

Grand Hellflame

Moment of Immortality

Hellborn Avatar

Personal (Hell)Space

[Raid Boss] Aspects were expensive as fuck to slot, but oh so worth it. He upgraded the weak flame attack and grabbed the aptly named [Moment of Immortality].

Grand Hellflame (epic)

The flickering flame of a candle. A crackling fire in the fireplace. The burning heat of a blacksmith’s forge. An welding torch. Sure, all of those things could be considered ‘fire’, but don’t really seem like they deserve the moniker compared to what this Skill can produce.

The holder of this Skill can wield the fires of hell, in their full all-consuming, life-force destroying glory, while gaining complete immunity to any and all fires up to and including this Skill’s power level.

Cost: 100 per second to generate, 10-50 per second to control, 200 to extinguish all fires caused by generated flame

[Hellflame] was far too expensive to truly use in combat for a non-caster like Isaac, but that wasn’t why he’d grabbed it. Instead, it was the near-immunity to one of the few things he couldn’t properly heal that was important. If he’d had this during ‘that fight’, he’d have come out the other end pretty much fine.

Moment of Immortality (legendary)

What kind of monster can have its guts hanging out, be bleeding from countless arterial wounds, and still be fighting? One with this Skill, that’s what.

Moment of Immortality activates automatically when it is needed, granting the user the ability to survive with massive bloodloss and without a complete set of internal organs. In fact, few things short of being pulverized will be able to kill the Skill user while it is active, but it is by no means a perfect defense.

Moment of Immortality lasts for twenty seconds and can only be activated every 168 hours.

And that was the real prize, the power only [Raid Bosses] held and could provide. Its usefulness was massively limited by the fact that you still needed to live even after the [Skill] had ended, but that was what Isaac’s regeneration was for.

Now Isaac just had to go ahead and prepare for a less literal fight. Ugh, politics.