The group travelled for about an hour before making it to the hospital. Lucian could have made it there much faster but didn’t want to leave his group behind.

As they approached the hospital they came upon a group of police officers holding a perimeter around the hospital’s entrance.

The corpse of one of the bird monsters Lucian fought earlier laid across the road - shot to death. The number of bloody spots indicating wounds on the body suggested that firearms were less effective for some reason, though Lucian could only guess what that reason might be.

“Hey!” Lucian called out to the police with a wave, “We have a kid that’s hurt!” His greeting drew the attention of the officers, many of whom did a double take upon seeing his new ears. They saw the family too, and after a moment, lowered their guns and waved the group over.

“Sorry. Tensions are high with everything going on.” One of the officers said, holstering her gun as she brought the group towards the hospital entrance. “There are a few medical staff in but a lot of people are unaccounted for so we’re making do with what we have. We’ve had a few dozen survivors come here so far.”

“Survivors, you make it sound like a zombie apocalypse.” Lucian laughed, earning him a strange look from the cop. “I mean, yeah, it is pretty apocalyptic but it isn’t all that bad.” He shrugged. “Oh! Did any of the police get classes when everything happened?” Lucian asked.

The woman nodded, “Yeah. He says it's called Ranger. You know, bows and arrows and such. Did you?”

“Mhm, yeah. Spellblade.” Lucian raised his hand and manifested his longsword. The cop’s eyes widened as she watched the glowing blue blade take form and she let out a whistle. Lucian swung the sword around a few times before letting it disperse. “The first thing I fought was one of those bird monsters, actually. One well placed skewering through the eye took it down. Certainly more effective than the guns seem to be.” Lucian looked back to the glass doors and out to the police line. “If I had to guess, the system, or whatever is behind all this, wants us to play its game using its rules, not ours. Would explain why the guns aren’t as effective.”

“Are you sure your magic sword isn’t just absurdly powerful?” The cop raised an eyebrow.

“It's certainly better than a normal sword, but it isn’t absurdly powerful. I have a certain instinctual understanding of what my skills do so I can say that much for certain. Ask the ranger, he should have an instinctive understanding of whatever skills it gave him too.” Lucian explained, “You should probably also get him a weapon that fits his class.”

The cop nodded and gestured down the hall. “Alright. For now, go there. One of the doctors has a class and can help the girl.” At that, Joseph nodded and began to head down the hallway. Lucian and the rest of the family followed.

A middle aged doctor wearing a white coat greeted them and brought them into one of the rooms. He had brown hair that showed some signs of greying and eyes that practically radiated compassion. He introduced himself as Doctor Anderson.

“Are you the one who got a class?” Lucian inquired as Joseph helped Serena onto the bed.

Doctor Anderson smiled, “Indeed. The universe has seen fit to make me a healer. I don’t understand what's going on or why it is but I try to accept blessings where they make themselves known.” Doctor Anderson rolled up his sleeves and turned to wash his hands in the sink before stepping up to the bed. He smiled down at Serena and began to make small talk with her as he brought his hand to her leg. His fingers an inch from the skin, a green light began to shine from them and the skin began to knit itself back together.

Two minutes passed, and Lucian saw a bead of sweat form on the doctor’s neck. The doctor withdrew his hand and the glow faded, and he let out a breath. “There… That should be mostly better. I still want to see if there’s anything broken, but the bleeding should be dealt with.” He explained as he undid the makeshift tourniquet. Joseph picked up his daughter and sat down in the chair beside the bed with her.

Lucian looked to the doctor, “I’m also a bit hurt, my back is all scraped up and I have an injury on my arm and shoulder, but you don’t need to waste Spirit on me.”

“One of the nurses should be able to take care of you.” The doctor nodded after giving Lucian a quick once over. “Just a bit further down the hall.”

“Alright, thank you.” Lucian turned to leave, but was stopped by a tug on his sleeve from one of the boys.

“Thanks mister.” Charlie said, holding onto his sleeve a bit. The rest of the family also chimed in with their thanks.

“You’re all welcome. You all take care of yourselves.” Lucian smiled before leaving the room.

Down the hall, it didn’t take long for one of the nurses to sit Lucian down and have him take off his hoodie and shirt. The disinfectant stung his back, but it was much more manageable than the injury that actually caused it. Lucian let out a breath as the nurse applied some ointment and bandaged his back up.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The nurse got a fresh set of bandages for his shoulder and arm, but before she could get to disinfecting them they both heard gunshots. “There’s something going on outside.” Lucian hopped to his feet. “I’ll be back.” He promised before bolting out of the room and down the hall.

When he got to the hospital lobby he saw a giant bird monster, probably 12 feet tall, charging at the line of police officers, much larger than the ones he had seen up close before. “Well shit.” Lucian pushed the doors open and activated [Manifest Weapon]. “Everyone scatter!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. Most of the cops took his advice, fleeing to the left and right of the bird’s path while a few kept firing at it. Lucian rolled his eyes and charged forward.

The cops looked at him as he moved faster than they had seen a person move before. Lucian grabbed one officer by the back of the shirt and pulled him out of the way of the charging monster and leaping backwards bringing them both out of harm's way. He dropped the officer onto the pavement and he groaned - confused by the sudden movement but alive.

The same couldn’t be said for the other two officers who didn’t listen. The monster slammed its beak into one of his, eliciting a swiftly ended scream as it crushed him, and batted the other officer away with its wing - the man sailed through the air and crumpled against the side of a building.

“God damnit!” Lucian pushed off the ground towards the monster. It unleashed a screech at him that made his head ring and his vision double - a skill no doubt. Lucian stumbled sideways, dodging barely out of the way of a peck that cracked the pavement. “Fuck…” Lucian blinked a few times, his vision slowly correcting itself. “A crowd control skill, great!” Lucian complained internally as he backstepped away from a second peck.

As the bird pulled its beak back up from the ground, Lucian swung his sword at its head. It adjusted itself and parried his blade with the edge of its beak.

Lucian brought his sword to the side and struck again but due to the effects of the skill on his vision, the bird moved its head slightly and dodged the attack.

Lucian moved backwards more, leading the bird further from the hospital. His vision was starting to clear and the ringing in his head was lessening slightly. He leapt backwards to gain more distance and as soon as he did the monster’s beak began to shine with a dangerous red glow. Lucian’s pupils dilated as time seemed to slow.

It had waited until Lucian was in the air, unable to push off any surface to dodge.

Lucian’s instincts kicked into action as the monster lunged forward, a sheen of energy surrounding its beak like a blade aimed at his chest. He swung his sword as hard as he could, bringing it down on the beak’s edge.

The force sent Lucian further into the air and forced the monster’s head to tilt down as it changed the trajectory of the attack. The beak punched a hole in the pavement as Lucian soared upwards. The beast struggled to pull itself free, lodged in place like a sword in stone.

Lucian began to fall, and raised his sword as he did, swinging downwards with the added momentum of gravity.

A blue streak sliced downwards through the air as Lucian fell, sparks of white trailing blue as he activated [Penetrating Strike] just to be sure.

His blade passed through the monster’s neck like that of a guillotine, cleaving into the pavement below it as it severed its head in one motion.

Its body fell to the ground away from Lucian with a thud, its head still stuck in the ground where it lodged itself. Lucian pulled his sword up from where it had cut slightly into the pavement and let it disperse.

Level Up!

You have leveled up from Spellblade Level 8 to Spellblade Level 10!

Your Strength has increased to 42 (+1 per level).

Your Agility has increased to 42 (+1 per level).

Your Intelligence has increased to 46 (+2 per level).

Your Clarity has increased to 27 (+1 per level).

As a result of other stat increases, your maximum Spirit has increased to 62.

You have gained 6 free points (+3 per level).

As a result of reaching Spellblade Level 10 you have a pending class skill choice.

Lucian let out a breath and looked back towards the hospital. “I can handle stats and skills in a moment…” He walked back towards the police. The woman he had spoken to earlier was helping the man he had pulled away to his feet. “I’m… Sorry I couldn’t save the other two.” Lucian apologized, looking over towards the body slumped against a building and the one crumpled where he had stood.

“You saved the rest of us, kid.” An older looking cop walked over and put his hand on Lucian’s shoulder, “Those men… they were good men. Good men.” He nodded, “But you saved the rest of us.” He patted Lucian’s shoulder firmly.

Lucian sighed, “Thank you…” he said before looking around at the rest of the police. “You need to get your ranger a weapon that will work against the monsters. A compound bow from a hunting store, or something. Or you’ll lose more men. You have to adapt.”

Lucian looked up at the man and he nodded, “You’re right. I’ll get him what he needs. Thank you.” Lucian nodded in response before slipping sideways around the man and heading back into the hospital.

“God fucking damnit.” Lucian made his way back to the nurse, and sat back down on the examination table after slipping into the room. He let out a long breath and inhaled deeply. Lucian knew it wasn’t his fault that they died - he didn’t save them but he did try.

There was a bit of guilt in his chest, but mostly it was a shocked numbness. Witnessing death is never easy. That shock hadn’t set in in the heat of the moment, but now that he was sitting down it was settling over him like a cold front.

He shuddered a bit as the nurse began to finish tending to him.