UnwillingEldritchHorrorofFortune

Chapter 231: The Abyss Damns (Aspirant POV)

AJ followed the line of slow-moving Aspirants, his head down and his mind lost in thought. He knew that he and the rest of Atlus’ fighters were being funneled into some new destination, but what could he do? Going backward, although there was no rule preventing so, would be little more than suicide given the freaks they call staff, and that wasn’t even mentioning the seemingly omniscient vice-director.

AJ had seen that entity work only a few times now, and only when the offending gu...

Chapter 230: The Abyss Takes (Aspirant POV)

AJ took out a notebook and pen and scribbled something on its pages before showing the four others. 

From now on, we communicate through paper. And for god's sake no one fucking break any of those rules, unless you want to end up like that group.

The others understood quickly and pulled out writing utensils of their own. April scribbled something and pointed at the words.

What’s going on? Nothing’s like what the scouts said!

A...

Chapter 229: The Abyss Consumes (Aspirant POV)

“Is that the last of the squads?” AJ, the leader of the siege, shouted.

“That should be everyone, sir,” one of his lieutenants said, “All squads and battalions are accounted for.”

AJ frowned. “Then why isn’t the mission completed? We made it well within the time limit. Are you sure this is the lobby?”

Someone else pulled out a map to double-check. “This should be it…”

“Then why-” 

Before AJ could question things further, a system ...

Interlude: Welcoming the new Guests

Once I double-checked that the last of the scouts were fully out of the hospital, I picked up the intercom and addressed the hospital. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen of Hope’s Memorial, the invaders have bit the bait. Everyone in positions, please. Patients who need extensive care are to be moved into the basement medical facility now. Disciplinary squads should be in position, and all nonvital staff should move to their dorms until further notice. We’re going to give these new guests a...

Chapter 228: Entering the Abyss (Invader POV)

“What kind of fresh hell is this?” Carlton muttered to no one in particular. This new siege mission had dropped them in a rain-soaked hillside overlooking the damned creepiest hospital that the veteran Aspirant had ever seen. The horrid storm was making their more sensitive equipment act up already, and they hadn’t even been in this dimension for more than a few minutes. Still, this was nothing new. Central’s selection of Trial grounds hadn’t been exactly calm and relaxing.

�...

Chapter 227: Day 1 Part 3

It took a lot longer for me to get used to the new access that I had as vice director, so much so that I had to skip dinner and had to have a nurse inform Vadeem and Noel of the fact. I had thought that I’d be done with it in a few hours at most, but my short introduction of had lasted into the night. By the time I had some understanding of my control over Hope’s Memorial, the Director had already left and I only had hours before the Aspirants were due to invade. 

Noe had offer...

Chapter 226: Day 1 Part 3

Abigail and Molly took the next hour or so going over the key points of the Hospital’s operations, and what it truly meant to be the acting Director. The end results were… well, they were strange, to say the least, but the key takeaway was that everything hinged on that plain receptionist Sarah. I was also able to figure out, at least in part, who the mysterious nurse/receptionist was. 

If I understood what the two told me, Sarah was Hope’s Memorial. Like, she w...

Chapter 225: Day 1 Part 2

Noel’s form shifted and blurred as she approached the counter, but as she was almost within touching distance of the woman, her entire body melted into the background. Those colorless flames started to leak into the reception room, painting the drab walls a wiggling black as if Noel was in the process of infecting the whole place with her strange powers. A few seconds later, the redhead - er, I guess you couldn’t see her hair color now, so the uh, inky flaming blob-woman - appeared right ...

Chapter 224: Day 1 Part 1

“Damn, Walter,” Vadeem muttered in awe as we opened the glass doors and entered Hope’s Memorial proper. “You were stuck in here as that thing last time? Damn, maybe our time in that sitcom wasn’t that bad after all.”

I waited for Noel to quip back, but surprisingly, she didn’t. What the hell… did the transfer here break her brain or something? I turned her attention back to the redhead and saw that she was still functioning, but the intense look in her eye showed me none...

Chapter 223: The Eve Before Departure

“I knew we should have gotten an extra table,” I grumbled as I dodged another flying piece of meat. 

Vadeem, Noel, and the twins were engaging in another battle to see who could horde the most food in our BBQ session, and unfortunately, that meant that the rest of us were at the mercy of their bickering. Sauces, vegetables, and bits of cooked goodies were flying everywhere as their battle for conquest reached its climax, with neither side giving up an inch of ground. Noel was m...

Chapter 222: Guild Reconstructions

It was smooth sailing after that meeting at the bar, and before long, my small faction was growing at an impressive rate. Sure, there were only about 150 members of the resistance, but given the strict conditions for joining, and the intensive vetting process, it was an impressive number. I took another sip of my martini and relaxed on the couch, finally content to just enjoy some time to myself since my new underlings could do most of the hard work themselves. Well, with only a day left befo...

Chapter 221: Undergrounds and Unrest

Things got busy once the Regressor’s plan of sticking people into the Omen Machine started in earnest. At first, we were able to find a few thousand volunteers to enter the thing, with the prospect of getting stronger as the motivating force, but new volunteers quickly dried up once the first few batches made it back out. The tales of pain and suffering that those Aspirants told were enough to discourage all but the most hardcore and desperate from choosing to go into the Omen Machine willi...

Chapter 220: Preparations

“Okay,” I mumbled half intelligently between bites of perfectly seasoned ribs, “How the hell did the food here become so good? It was a glorified cafeteria before.”

Hell, even the decor had changed since I was here last. Gone was the bland motel restaurant feel with its old carpeting and drab dining clothes, and in were the lavish marble flooring, beautifully crafted sculptures, and tasteful, yet simple, seating. Our private VIP room even had a water feature - some kind of glass...

Chapter 219: New man in charge.

“Fascinating… I’ve never thought of using spatial tech like this before, but how did you… Hm, I see! This is quite…” my chubby friend continued to mumble incomprehensible things as he examined the trinket in great detail, “Have you linked it anywhere yet?”

And of course Big Bob’ll be the first to understand its function. I shook my head. “I was hoping to use our old hang-out as the anchor point. The one we brought Q to last time.”

“Hm, that lounge is a tad ...

Chapter 218: Hospital Worries

The Director finished what she was doing a short while later and, exhaustingly, got up from her seat to envelop me in a friendly hug. I could tell the poor woman was past the point of exhaustion and was well into some new kind of delirium. I’ve never seen her like this before, even when she was waiting for me to finish making Toby.

“Woah, I think you need some rest, Abigail,” I said, easing her into the couch beside me. “Or at least get something in your system besides coffee. T...

Chapter 217: Cures and Concerns

I left the office and made my way into the prepared room where I’d receive Claire’s brother. Aside from me, there was only a pair of Central staff - the same ones who the Regressor had somehow managed to rope into keeping the whole building running - to help out with my “procedure”, although their real purpose was to have a way to communicate with Q. Originally, I had planned to allow Noe to somehow Luck her way through to a cure, but then it dawned on me. Why would I have to rely on ...

Chapter 216: Restructuring Pandora

We all sat back in our seats once Claire left. She had told us that it would take some time to get her brother and his things moved over, apparently, she was quite paranoid about her enemies exploiting that relationship and had hidden his whereabouts thoroughly. That meant that we had time to discuss the other important part of today’s meeting: Jae-Hyun’s plans for the future now that we’ve established complete and total control of Pandora.

“Before I begin,” our leader said wi...

Chapter 215: Settling In

I didn’t decide to stay with Claire for much longer after that. Yoona had come a few minutes after me, and I left it up to her to guide our new addition around the preplanned sights and her new dorm room while the Regressor was busy tinkering in the background. For once, nothing catastrophic went wrong, and Jae-Hyun was able to make something to temporarily disable Claire’s abilities to the men in our core group. After Noel scared the woman half to death, I doubted she’d try anything fu...

Chapter 214: Contract with the Abyss

Lady Awesome: Man, little bro, you got the strangest requests, but hey, whatever tickles your fantasies. 

Walter’s Fine: No, Noel!

Lady Awesome: Dunno why you’re still so shy about it, but you know I’m always gonna be here for ya! And from what you told me of that woman… damn, she sounds like a natural! Leave this to Noel, I’ll make the perfect wingman! 

I grumbled to myself and ...

Chapter 213: Gathering Allies and Intel

I walked over to Claire, who was still staying vigilant for any new threats and informed her of my findings. Well, more like I lied about what I had been talking about, but that wasn’t anything new. Now that things have gone a little off script - which was also nothing new now that I thought about it - I had to improvise the ending a little. 

“I’ve spoken with someone within the Abyss guild, she should be high up on the food chain,” I said and took out one of the tokens I g...

Chapter 212: Interesting Intel

Man, it was times like this were I wished Noe’s Absolute Luck skill could manipulate what I say to acquire the best results, but if just muttering the right name costs hundreds of charges, then stringing along the best words for an entire phrase,  no matter how short, would cost way more than I could ever afford. Alas, I was alone here to think of what to say to maximize the situation with Claire. After a quick deliberation, I thought it best to just tell her the truth, or at least as ...

Chapter 211: An Unusual Play

Noe… please tell me I don’t have to act like this for the remainder of my stay here.

“You can end it early if you wish, my Host, by eliminating Aspirant Claire,” Noe replied with a chuckle. “But I must warn you that I detect that the Lady Malice has established a Sponsorship agreement with her.”

She did what? I frowned; thankfully I had my back turned to my guest when I did so. Wait, how’d she even get in that program? I thought there were ...