Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 20: Necropsy

“Autopsy of unknown monster, Friday May 6th of 2022, Case number 0-3-0-2-4-9, conducted by Professor Adam Bailey and Professor Victor Bishop.”

The medical examiner finished speaking into the microphone hanging from the ceiling, then stepped back, looking at the alien body on the table with a mixture of interest and revulsion, though tiredness was evident in his bearing. None of them had been awake or planning to be so at the time of being informed about the situation, but none of them were willing to let this wait until morning either.

“I don’t suppose you managed to find anyone with [Piercing Strike] or an equivalent [Skill]?” Bailey asked, addressing the officer standing near the entrance to the room, but she just shook her head.

“All I have is [Hunter’s Tools], but I don’t think that will be particularly helpful. Makes my tools slightly better, that’s about it.” Bishop commented.

“Every little bit helps Victor, every little bit.” Bailey told him. They’d decided to stick to first names before everything became professor this, professor that. In truly formal settings, they’d obviously return to formal means of address, but they didn’t count this situation as being particularly formal.

“Should we start with the standard Y incision, then? Open up the torso, see where to go from there?” he suggested.

“Bold of you to assume we’ll get through that skin without a chainsaw.” Bishop grinned “But let’s try, see if we get anywhere.”

“Do you really think it’s going to be that big of a problem?” the coroner asked.

“Might be.” Bailey shrugged “This thing got hit with a lot and still looks relatively intact if you ignore the burns and it throws punches hard enough to break concrete, I doubt it’s fragile.”

With that, Bailey grabbed the scalpel, slotted in a blade and began the first incision. The skin resisted to a surprising degree, the blade barely penetrating though it pushed through as he applied more and more pressure on it.

“Yep, that looks tough.” Bishop commented, then turned towards the coroner “Can you get us every spare scalpel blade you have? I have a feeling we’re going to dull the ones we use at record speed.”

The coroner just nodded and walked off at a brisk pace.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a hunting knife on you?” Bailey asked and Bishop nodded “See how that works.”

As it turned out, a hunting knife empowered by a [Skill] worked better than a normal scalpel purely by the virtue of having better leverage while being just as sharp. Therefore, Bishop used it while Bailey stuck to grabbing a new scalpel blade every minute or so.

After over half an hour of struggling, cutting, even grabbing the rotary saw normally only used to open up skulls on some of the tougher parts, they were finally able to peel back the skin to reveal the monster’s insides. Well, part of them, anyway.

“Those abdominal muscles are going to be a stone cold bitch to get through, aren’t they?” Bishop sighed.

“A layer of skin that can be peeled back that easily wasn’t what I expected.” Bailey muttered “Once more into the breach, I suppose. Pass me that saw?”

Initially, they’d thought they were cutting through both skin and muscle, but unfortunately, they were rather loosely connected, which meant opening up the torso was a hell of a lot harder, which was seriously tempting Bailey to just give up and ask for a chainsaw.

But this time, there were no other impediments and the internal organs were laid bare, including the heart once they removed the sternum. It had a rather unusual shape for something that had come out of a humanoid creature, looking familiar, but he wasn’t sure why.

“Ok, that’s just weird.” Bishop muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for Bailey to catch his words.

“We’re conducting a necropsy on a gigantic monster summoned to this world by magic. I’d be more surprised if it weren’t.” Bailey told him.

“That’s not what I meant. Obviously everything is going to have a weird layout and shape. What I’m talking about is the state of the organs. They’re perfect. I’ve been hunting literally for longer than you’ve been alive, and I’ve almost never seen organs that perfect. Most of them have some in good condition, but then they have liver worms turning their liver literally into soup or something. But here, I can’t spot a single flaw on any single part of its body that the guy who killed it didn’t inflict.” Bishop explained.

“So, these things are summoned in a perfect form?” Bailey asked.

“That’s possible. But it could also be that summoned creatures are created the instant someone activates the circle, leaving behind a summoned creature in peak condition.” Bishop explained his thoughts.

“We’ll check on that, later.” Bailey told him.

And with that, the two of them delved deeper into the organs of the beast while the coroner watched, narrating their actions for the benefit of the recording all the while.

“When’s the last time you dissected a frog?” Bailey asked out of the blue.

“Forty, fifty years, maybe? Why?” Bishop asked, confusion clear on his face.

“Because I think I know what this thing is and I’m kicking myself for not realizing this sooner. The materials would have been available, and the physical characteristics fit.” Bailey explained.

“Huh, go ahead.” Bishop told him.

“See that spiral thing in the heart? That’s called a septum and frogs use it to separate their oxygenated and non oxygenated blood because they don’t have a mammal’s segmented heart. And look at what I found in the Amphibian section of the summoning system. A Swamp Knight, which requires fertile soil and toxin. I saw the frat has a garden and they serve alcohol, which is a neurotoxin. Therefore, I’m pretty sure that this being in front of us is a Swamp Knight.” Bailey explained.

“Are you seriously telling me all you need to summon that thing is some dirt from the garden, a shot of vodka and a sharpie?” the police officer exclaimed, speaking without being prompted for the first time.

“I know alcohol is technically a neurotoxin, but is that enough to count as a toxin in the eyes of the [System]?” Bishop echoed the policeman’s fearful question.

“A few hours ago, I summoned an Acid Slime using a can of coca cola, you tell me how broad the [System’s] definitions are.” Bailey replied.

“That’s … disturbing. Someone summoning something that dangerous with such common materials, just … yikes.” Bishop said while the cop just blanched and stood there as if he’d been turned into a pillar of salt.

“Disturbing is one way to put it. This [System] has placed incredible destructive potential in the hands of literally every person in the world. Sure, they have to escape their summoned monster first, but if they do …” Bailey trailed off, leaving the ultimate issue up to the imagination of the other people in the room.

“If you put that out in the world as a paper, I’m not sure whether that will help or not. But I can already see the sheer amount of clusterfucks this will end up causing.” Bishop grimaced.

“Yeah, me too.” Bailey said, trailing off, deep in thought.

“But are you sure that’s what you think it is?” Bishop asked.

“I’m pretty sure, but the only way to tell for certain would be by summoning a Swamp Knight and comparing the two, but the only way I’m summoning a Tier 4 circle after this mess is on top of a hill of Semtex.” Bailey said.

“That’s probably a wise choice.” Bishop replied off handedly. And with that, they continued their work.

“You know, I’m starting to think that we shouldn’t be worried about this Swamp Knight, we should be worrying about the person who took it down.” Bishop said after a long while “Think about it, we’ve been cutting at this thing for forever and barely gotten anywhere, but someone inflicted that level of damage in just the few minutes it took for the police to arrive. That kind of power … how long before someone demonstrates that the power to kill a head of state doesn’t automatically confer the ability to take their place? Or just does something that stupid in general?” Bishop asked.

“I think Isaac is good people, I don’t think he’d do something like that.” Bailey cautioned his colleague “Besides, he has plenty of [Skills] to enhance his blows. I’m pretty sure those injuries weren’t inflicted just through pure force of Stats.” Bailey replied.

“You know the guy who did this?” Bishop asked.

“He works for me.” Bailey said.

“Hm, I’d like to meet him one of these days:”

“You already did?” Bailey frowned.

“What’s his last name?” Bishop asked.

“Thoma.” Bailey told him and Bishop nodded “Ah, that guy. Nice, professional, has no idea how to act around guns.”

“That sounds about right.” Bailey said.

“Now, if only we knew if he actually used those [Skills] in the fight, that’d be great.” Bishop added.

“You know I can just call him, right?” Bailey asked, already dialing the number.

“And you know it’s in the middle of the night, right?” Bishop asked.

“He was awake earlier, it’s worth a try.” Bailey replied.

“Adam, what’s up?” came the reply a few seconds later, followed by a loud yawn.

“We’re doing the necropsy on the monster you killed right now, and we were wondering if you used any [Skills] in the process?” Bailey asked.

“Yep. [Piercing Strike] and [Power Strike]. But then I ran out of mana, so I stuck to trying to cut it with shards of glass. Isaac told them.

“And [Power Strike] just increases how hard you hit?” Bailey asked.

“Yep.”

“In that case, I think that’s something we need to experiment with once you’re out of the hospital.” Bailey said.

“If I’m going to be playing lab rat, could you do something for me?” Isaac asked, mirth swinging along in his voice.

“Depends, what is it?” Bailey asked.

“I was wondering if you could get me some dinosaur fossils. If you check the prehistoric part of the summoning list, you’ll see that all you need to summon a real one are some bones.” Isaac’s grin at saying this was audible.

Summoning List (Prehistoric)

Name

Material Cost

Mana Cost

Dinosaur (max. 1 meter)

Tier 1 Circle, Bone or Fossil of desired Dinosaur

10

…

Dinosaur (max. 5 meters)

Tier 2 Circle, Bone or Fossil of desired Dinosaur, Feathers

50

…

Dinosaur (max. 10 meters)

Tier 3 Circle, Bone or Fossil of desired Dinosaur, Feathers, Pig Iron

100

…

Dinosaur (max. 25 meters)

Tier 4 Circle, Bone or Fossil of desired Dinosaur, Feathers, Pig Iron, Granite

100

…

Dinosaur (max. 50 meters)

Tier 5 Circle, Bone or Fossil of desired Dinosaur, Feathers, Pig Iron, Granite, Obsidian Chunks

250

…

Ancient Lands

Tier 8 Circle, rock and soil samples, petrified wood, Samples of 100 different Dinosaurs, 10 different Fossil Pieces

10,000 (max. 10 people)

…

“I can see that.” Bailey said.

“There’s a museum in Stuttgart that’s absolutely filled with fossils, including a carnosaur And the Mensch und Natur in Munich has a T-Rex head, one of whose teeth they might be willing to part with in exchange for a brand new skull.” Isaac suggested cheekily.

“Teeth aren’t bone- … but fossilized ones should count as fossils, but if the ones gained from the body work would be intere- … no, that is a test for later. I’ll do my best to get my hands on some fossils, promise” Bailey said.

“Thanks.” Isaac said and hung up.

“You know, if you’re going to be fighting dinosaurs, you’re not going to do that alone, right?” Bishop asked, hunger and excitement evident in his voice.

“… yep.”

And just like that, he'd earned himself an entirely new branch of research. It would be useful, but also one step closer to his plate overflowing.