"I still can't see them, Lupie!" Sam shouted, jumping over the river.
"Twenty meters to my left and forward is the alpha raptor, standing perfectly still, thinking we are both running for the alpha salamander almost directly in front of you," Lupie said through their chat.
"Okay, I trust you. I'll break toward the raptor once you pass in front of me," Sam said, summoning her shield and one of the swords she had constructed the night before to replace the one she blew up when she channeled void into it during her fight with the brood mother. Lupie zipped in front of her like a blood-red bundle of death and tentacles, and Sam turned toward the hiding alpha raptor.
Still unable to see her alpha, Sam cast a dozen arcane bolts in his approximate direction. She had no idea how the Bloodmorph knew the raptor was a male but figured it was a monster thing. The bolts of energy struck the trees and the grass, but no raptor. Sam was just at the tree line and about to slow down when she spied another ripple in the air with her mana sight just to her left. She leaped behind a tree just in time. The alpha raptor's jaws closed around the tree trunk she had just jumped behind and snapped down so hard he nearly bit it in two. The bite was so deep into the tree trunk that Sam had to turn sideways to avoid getting punctured by his teeth. Even then, a couple of the fangs still managed to cut into her legs and arms.
“Holy shit! This thing’s huge!” Sam thought with a brief wave of panic. The alpha had to be at least five meters long and stood three meters tall. Its head was nearly the size of Sam’s whole torso. She identified it.
Sigea Grassland Raptor Alpha [Level 74]; Hostile; Affinity: illusion; stealth; As an Alpha, this creature can control others of its kind up to 10 levels above its own. This reptilian species is not native to Hallista. Additional experience will be granted for assisting in eradicating this invasive species.
Sam dodged away from the tree, trying to distance herself from the massive beast as it chewed the tree. "If the raptor is this big, then how big is the freaking salamander?" She risked a glance behind her toward the direction Lupie went.
Sam's question was answered an instant later when a giant salamander the size of a locomotive crashed through the trees, toppling several, with Lupie on its back. Sam could feel the ground vibrating from the stomping of the creature. All of Lupie's blood tentacles were buried deep in the monster's body and seemed to be flexing almost like they were—Sam realized what was happening, "She's sucking its blood. Damn, she's scary." Sam thought as the giant salamander rolled over on its back, forcing Lupie to stop her attack and leap away. Blood sprayed in all directions as the Bloodmorph’s bladed tentacles were yanked from the salamander’s body.
Sam felt the thread she had attached to the alpha raptor shift. She brought her attention back to her target. “I’ll be damned if I let Lupie finish hers off first.” She grinned, "What's a little competition among friends?"
The enormous raptor didn't immediately attack Sam. Instead, it crouched and eyed her cautiously, obviously wary of her since she had been able to dodge its sneak attack. Sam knew she was on a timer and felt a slight wave of anxiousness threaten to creep into her mind, but she suppressed it by channeling meditation. Sam's mind was racing for a strategy against such an agile and cunning opponent as she sized up the alpha predator. So far, all she could think of was trying to hobble or stun it so she could get in close for a void strike to its head or back.
Locking in on that idea, Sam thought about how she might be able to incapacitate such a large beast. She was sure she wouldn't be able to hold the monster with her mana threads, at least not for long, even if she wove them all together to form a rope; the beast was just too powerful. "I might be able to create a trip wire, but the more I condense my constructs, the more visible they become so that probably won't work. No, I need to focus more on disorientation and distraction than incapacitation…maybe I can force-feed it some Deep Hunter meat when it attacks me? Hmm, it might not have any effect, though. Think, Sam, think!"
Unfortunately for Sam, the raptor got tired of waiting and lunged at her with lightning speed! Sam jumped and yanked herself out of its path with a couple of her threads she had placed around a tree. The raptor's jaws clamped shut less than a meter from her, but she wasn't as lucky with its claws. The twenty-centimeter sickle-shaped claw on its hind leg struck Sam in the center of her chest, forcing her to use her shield to deflect it mid-leap before it could penetrate her body. With a loud thwack, Sam was sent spiraling out of control to smack against a tree. Sam fell to the ground at the foot of the tree with a groan. The impact shattered her shield arm because she hadn't had time to strengthen her body with mana. Knowing she couldn't just lay there by the tree, Sam jumped up and prepared to defend against a follow-up attack, trying to locate the raptor while quickly chugging a large health potion to supplement her mana repair skill as it healed her broken arm.
But the alpha didn't attack again. Instead, Sam watched in horror as it dashed off toward the cliff and the defenders. Dirt and what was left of the grass on the battlefield kicked up in huge chunks as the alpha raptor bolted toward the huddled party that was too preoccupied with the horde to notice the giant monster approach. Sam bolted after the beast, closing the gap with mana-infused speed while risking a quick warning through the event chat line, hoping it wasn't too distracting to the harried defenders. She didn't receive a response but didn't expect one. She knew her message had gotten through when several arcane arrows streaked toward the alpha, already across the river and closing on the rear of the swarming monsters.
The alpha dodged to the side as the arrows came close, causing all but one to miss. The last arrow changed its direction mid-flight and buried itself in the raptor's side a couple of centimeters before exploding. There was minimal damage, but the small explosion threw the raptor off balance for a moment. Sam capitalized on the brief stumble and lassoed one of its legs with the thickest mana rope she could craft before it took its next step.
The alpha raptor jerked its leg forward with the mana rope attached, yanking Sam off her feet. The raptor, unable to take its complete step, stumbled and fell to its stomach. At the same time, Sam landed face-first in the riverbank mud. Just as Sam's face planted, Nara's voice came over the event voice chat, "Look out from above! The cliff is getting swarmed!" Her warning was followed almost immediately by a shrill scream that came through everyone's event comm so loud it threatened to scramble Sam's brain as she pulled her face from the wet dirt with a light sucking sound.
"Fall back to the cave!" Parish and Chad said at the same time. Everyone had agreed that although the cave would essentially leave everyone trapped, it would at least allow them a better defense if they had to wait out the event timer.
With a quick wipe of her face, Sam got to her feet in time to see the defenders leaping off the cliff, chased by over a dozen larger raptors. Even as she watched, the air mage slowed his fall a little, but it proved fatal when two raptors, ignoring the cliff's height, dove off after him; one latched onto his leg and the other his head. The three dropped out of sight behind the horde of green flesh and scales, overrunning the defenders. Sam knew from experience the man was dead before he hit the ground.
Naris leaped off the cliff just behind the mage with one of the younger archers under one arm. The instant he left the cliff's edge, a raptor leaped off after him, but Naris pivoted his body to sink one of his daggers into the side of the creature's skull as they fell. Naris then used the beast's weight to yank himself into the side of the cliff, where he dug his dagger in to slow his fall.
Seeing Nara and Naris were okay, Sam's attention turned to Brenda as she fought a small group of attackers with manic glee. Sam didn't think there was a single part of the berserker’s body that wasn't cut and bleeding, but the woman didn't seem to even notice as she bashed with her shield and sliced with her sword with lethal results. Still, the press of bodies was too great, and Sam could only stare in horror as the giant woman was toppled over under the weight of the horde.
"No!" Sam shouted. She wanted to dash to Brenda's aid but knew she couldn't. She had been tasked with taking down the alpha; if it got to the defenders, there would be no helping them. Sam knew she might not be the highest level of the people there; hell, she was among the lowest level in the event team. But low level or not, she was the most powerful besides Lupie, and having seen the others fight, Sam knew not one of them would stand a chance against the alpha raptor. They could take it down as a group, but not while still defending against the horde. Sam knew she needed to buy the rest of the event team enough time to retreat into the cave, so she did what she did best.
Forming a large harpoon on her mana rope, Sam lanced it into the alpha raptor's side with a magical burst! The beast rose from where she had tripped it when her magical construct sank deep into its body. Throwing seven loops of her rope around one of the stone barriers Marin had erected, Sam tied the magical construct off. The giant raptor tried to run forward but was yanked back by the mana rope. It let out a loud cry when the harpoon's barbs dug into its flesh as the rope went taut.
“You have less than ten seconds! Make them count, Sam!” She told herself as the alpha yanked hard on the rope again, and her mana rope visibly weakened in her sight. Fortunately for Sam, having the harpoon in its body temporarily caused the alpha to lose its sense of reason because it didn't even notice her as she ran by.
Sam summoned one of the blank mana crystals from her inventory; she had asked Naris to drain several on their way to the event location. Looking at the small crystal in her hand, she frowned, “I really wanted to use these against a higher-level opponent. I’m unsure how they’ll do for crowd control, but here it goes!” Infusing a little of her recovered void energy into the blank crystal, Sam threw it into the rear of the pressing monster wave off to her right. Not waiting to see if it would work, Sam infused several more crystals, throwing them off to each side as she ran toward where she had seen Brenda go down.
Several loud explosions sounded behind Sam as the void-infused crystals exploded, unable to contain the volatile energy. The cries and screams of beasts were music to her ears. Her elation disappeared as soon as she arrived above Brenda. Standing on top of the packed monsters, Sam could barely make out the berserker still struggling under the horde of claws and teeth. Sam tried to reach her arm down to grab the woman but couldn't reach her. Thinking fast, Sam formed one of her kinetic dampener constructs between the press of bodies above Brenda and expanded it, forcing the heavy salamanders apart, pumping far more energy than she wanted to into the spell. "If it saves her life, then it's worth it," Sam thought, releasing the spell and quickly grabbing the berserker, who had stopped moving.
Sam didn't check to see if Brenda was alive and only threw her over her shoulder, pulling her up and securing her with her mana threads. Stabbing her sword into the eye of a raptor about to snap at her, Sam awkwardly started making her way across the top of the monsters toward the cave entrance. She was relieved when her mana repair skill confirmed Brenda was still alive, albeit in critical condition. Healing the large woman as she ran, Sam couldn't help but pant out, "god, you're heavy! What are you made of stone?"
Just as Sam cleared the front of the horde, leaping over the slowly retreating line of tanks, Chad shouted, "Push back now!" Every tank glowed with a skill activation and shot forward into the press teeth and claws the speed and force of the impact, killing most of the monsters on the front line as they were crushed against their brethren. The push gave the defenders a much-needed respite, even if only for a few heartbeats. "Grab the wounded and retreat!" Chad shouted in his commanding voice. Every tank and warrior still standing quickly snatched up anyone on the ground and started running for the cave.
Sam took in the chaos around her as she ran the few short meters to the cave entrance with Brenda bouncing over her shoulder. All the raptors from the cliff above had been killed. Parish, Nara, and Marin were dragging several bodies into the cave. The wind mage's headless body was lying where he had landed, a pool of blood forming under his body. One of the tanks screamed off to Sam's left, and she looked over just in time to see the alpha raptor's jaws snap down on the doomed woman. To Sam's surprise, though, the beast's jaws didn't cut the woman in half. Instead, her armor exploded outward when the raptor bit down, forcing its jaws wide. The tank slipped from her expanded armor just as the jaws snapped shut again. She ran as fast as she could toward the cave, not even noticing she was only carrying half the man she had been trying to save. The protection of her escape skill had not rescued the warrior she had been carrying from the powerful jaws.
Seeing Chad running up to her as he dragged another downed tank, Sam shoved Brenda into his arms, yelling to be heard over the screams, hisses, roars, and shouts of the chaotic battlefield. She said, "Take her and wall yourselves in the cave! Lupie and I have this!" Chad was about to say something, but Sam didn't give him time. Using the last of her mana reserves, Sam erected the most enormous shield construct she ever had around all the retreating defenders. The instant mana headache nearly caused her to swoon when she did it. Seeing what Sam was doing, Chad shouted, "Hurry! Sam's holding them off! Marin collapse the entrance as soon as the last of us are inside!"
“Sam?” Nara’s voice came through their party chat, “What do you want me to do?”
Sam thought for a moment. On the one hand, she wanted Nara with her. But on the other hand, she also knew Parish had given Nara a powerful healing spell to assist in just this situation, and with Nara's mana reserves almost topped off along with the pile of mana crystals she had…Sam sighed, "Keep them safe, Nara, heal as many as you can."
There was a long pause, and Lupie spoke next instead of Nara, "It is the best course of action. You are not ready for this, Nara, not even with your speed. These enemies are," Lupie paused for only a moment, looking for the right word, finally settling on "cunning."
"That would be offensive coming from anyone but you, Lupie," Nara finally responded. Then, to both of them, she said, "Good luck, ladies. I will try to get as many as I can back up to fighting shape before the last wave."
The communication broke off just as Sam’s barrier shattered. She was thankful she wasn’t still connected to it with her mind when the shield broke, thinking, "Would a construct that large breaking while I was still channeling into it scramble my brain?"
There was no more time for thought, though. The alpha raptor erupted through the shattering construct with a vengeance, heading straight for the same tank that had escaped it a moment before. "Oh no, you don't!" Sam lunged at the enraged beast with her sword at the ready.
The raptor was so focused on his prey that he didn't see Sam's attack until it was too late. Sam dodged between the raptor's legs, barely avoiding the long razor-sharp claws. With all her might, she swung her sword in a vertical slash, cutting a deep furrow into his soft stomach. The wound didn't seem to faze the beast as he continued past Sam. But Sam didn't stop with the one attack; she leaped up and attacked again as he passed, slicing a meter off the alpha's tail. That got the reaction she was looking for! With a half scream, half roar, the giant reptile whipped around, snapping at the annoying creature that dared harm it. But the alpha missed Sam completely and slightly stumbled when he turned to attack her.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Sam smiled viciously. This was the advantage she needed. The idea had come to her when she saw the beast fall for the first time. As soon as he struck the ground, the alpha used his tail to right himself, bringing Sam to conclude that raptors, like most bipedal birdlike creatures, used its tail for balance.
Not wanting to use her depleted mana reserves, Sam decided to try and take down the alpha with her enhanced strength instead to allow as much time as she could for her mana to recover. She knew at her current regeneration rate, it would only take five minutes to completely refill her mana pool, and that was without meditation, which would shorten the time by a couple of minutes. Thinking about time, Sam checked the event timer in the corner of her vision. It showed thirty-seven minutes remaining. This is going to be close,” she thought, engaging with the off-balance alpha.
***
Lupie heard the alpha raptor's cry of pain and rage and felt elated at the sound. Her summoner, Sam, had finally gotten serious. It was a pity she had to defend the weaklings, but Lupie understood the importance of being in a pack now. Before, when she had only been a lowly red wolf blessed with a rare affinity, she had always seen her pack as a means to increase her strength. She had seen the weaker members of her pack as fodder and food, nothing more. Then, against all odds, Sam defeated her even after she had been granted a blessing by the void hand. That day was forever burned into her memory, the day she thought was her last.
Lupie had felt the power and seen the lack of fear in the pathfinder's glowing eyes as she sacrificed her own arm to win their fight by planting an explosive ball of magic in Lupie's stomach and then slicing off her own arm to escape before Lupie could counterattack. As she lay dying from Sam's attack, Lupie realized Sam's power and resolve hadn't just come from wanting to grow stronger. In fact, Lupie didn't think Sam would have even attacked her had she and her pack not been attacking the others of Sam's kind. In her final moments, Lupie had felt the pain and mental anguish of the System removing her title of pack leader and replacing it with exiled. Lupie had been taught a lesson the hard way; she was never powerful; it was only through her pack that she had strength. Desperate to make up for her mistake, she offered her soul to the terrifying and beautiful violet-haired monster that had defeated her, only to be devastated when Sam refused her offer. Desperate and terrified, Lupie immediately agreed when the System offered her another option: to become a summon token with her soul placed in the other place while she waited for someone to bring her back. She had hoped it would be Sam, but as the days progressed and no summon came, she had begun to lose hope of ever being able to hunt with a pack again.
And then it happened. Sam summoned her The Defeated and asked for her help. She gave Lupie as many levels as she could as fast as possible so Lupie could be strong. Sam didn't treat her like fodder or food; no, she treated her as a friend, an equal…as a pack mate, and that made them strong. Now, they were a pack, and she knew they could not be defeated if they fought together as equals. That's why Lupie knew helping the weaker ones grow stronger was so important, so they could one day join their own pack and defeat even greater threats. Lupie was happy; she had found an unlikely pack; sure, none of them were of the same species, but they were united with the common goals of survival and the pursuit of strength.
Finished with her reminiscing, Lupie growled at her prey, "Why won't this thing just die! I want to help Sam!" She leaped over a tail swipe from the alpha salamander and raked her claws across the appendage as it swept past. This was getting her nowhere. Every time she tried to get on its back, the big thing rolled over, threatening to crush her so she couldn't get a good foothold. But when she activated her skill and strafed the creature, it would erect earthen defenses to block her blood spikes. Lupie was trying to save her howl and void spikes for the final battle, but it looked like she would have to waste some of her precious skills on this pathetic but annoyingly resilient creature.
***
Sam was laser-focused on the alpha raptor to the point she was almost ignoring the weaker creatures that had survived her void bombs and the final push from the tanks. At least she was ignoring those creatures that weren't getting between her and her target, as the level 48 raptor quickly found out when she smoothly lopped off its head when it stepped between her and the alpha. Sam was no swordswoman, but with her strength and agility, she really didn't need to be when fighting against a giant reptile. No matter how intelligent the alpha raptor was, it was still a beast that Sam intended to end quickly.
Once Sam was in the range of the alpha, it leaped at her, leading with its clawed feet. “Let’s see what all these extra stat points add up to,” Sam thought with a strange feeling of excitement in her chest. She had used her magic in every fight she had been in since arriving in this world, even though she kept insisting that she needed all her stats evened out with the excuse that one day, she might encounter a situation where she couldn't access her magic. "This is kinda one of those situations…well, sort of," She mused to herself as she poured all her focus into dodging the approaching claws of the alpha raptor while at the same time pivoting her body to cut deep into the muscle of its leg with her arcane blade. The mana discharge from the magical blade burst into the creature, causing its muscles to spasm around the wound. “That magic doesn’t count,” she thought hurriedly as the raptor lost its balance and fell on its side, "I made that blade yesterday, and besides, it's the only one I have that's my size in my inventory."
The raptor was on its side but, even then, tried to kick at her with its vicious claws as it struggled to right itself. Sam couldn't have that, so she leaped over the rapidly kicking appendages of death and, dismissing her sword, summoned an arcane javelin into the palm of her outstretched hand. With a twist of her body, she pivoted in the air, launching the javelin deep into the raptor's throat. With another twist, Sam smacked the lower jaw of the raptor with her shield when it snapped at her from its prone position. The force of the mid-air impact pushed Sam away from her intended landing area on the beast's shoulders to its hind end close to its hips.
Sam landed poorly on the raptor's hip, feeling her ankle pop before her right leg collapsed. “Shit,” she thought as she managed to wedge up one of the large green scales on the creature’s back with her gloved fingers, a difficult task because of the rapid jerking and kicking the raptor was doing as it tried to right itself. Sam wasted no time once she had the scale pried up a little and summoning her sword again, she slid it under the scale, deep into the raptor's side, and twisted the blade before yanking it out and leaping off the beast just barely dodging the snapping jaws as the raptor contorted its body to bite at her again.
Sam stood on her one good leg a few meters away, watching as the raptor struggled to its feet slowly. With her mana sight, she could see her arcane mana coursing through its body, wreaking havoc on the monster's insides. Even had she not been able to see it with her skill, it would have still been obvious by the spasming muscles of the raptor as it struggled to stay standing. The creature looked at her with rage but surprised Sam by turning away from her, presumably to run. "Not again!" Sam shouted, summoning another of her arcane javelins. She only had one more after this one, so she needed to make this shot count. Just as the raptor took a shaky step away from her, Sam threw her javelin with all the force she could muster while still standing on one leg. The javelin flew through the air like it was launched from a cannon, striking the raptor's back just above its tail. Because the creature was facing away from her, the javelin's tip slid under its overlapping scales, completely disappearing into the beast's body.
Sam groaned and started hobbling toward the raptor as it took another step away from her. Her ankle was just healed enough to take some weight, “Damn, it takes a lot longer to heal when I’m not actively pumping mana into my healing ability. I should probably note that for later,” Sam mused as she gingerly hobbled toward the struggling raptor. Before she made it halfway to the alpha, though, it collapsed, and a welcome kill notification arrived in the corner of her vision. "Wow, I didn't expect that! When injected directly into a body, my mana must be highly toxic; either that or I hit something vital." Sam was still musing as she yanked her first javelin out of the alpha raptor's neck, lamenting that she didn't have time to cut out the second javelin. Looking around, she counted less than twenty lower-level beasts clawing at the rubble blocking the cave entrance.
With her energy level past the halfway mark, Sam quickly healed her ankle and topped off the arcane charge in her sword, shield, and the javelin she had just pulled from the alpha raptor. Looking around for Lupie, she found the Bloodmorph latched onto the alpha salamander's neck with all her blood tentacles while raking considerable gouges in the creature's throat with her void-coated claws. "Hey girl, do you need help?" Sam asked through their chat.
“No, I feel this one’s life force fading,” came Lupie’s calm reply.
"Okay, then I'm going to take care of the rest of them," Sam told her companion. Not holding back her magic, Sam hit the remaining monsters with everything she had, killing and injuring over half of them before they knew she was attacking from behind. By the time they turned on her to retaliate, it was already too late. Ensuring to keep one of the raptors alive, Sam made quick work of the remaining beasts with a few void bolts and arcane spikes from her mana threads. Each beast took more than one spike and void bolt to take down, thanks to their higher levels. Still, at the rate, Sam could launch her attacks, it didn't make much of a difference, and they all fell to her onslaught before ever reaching her.
Lupie ran up as Sam tied up the last remaining raptor in her mana threads. A quick check of the timer showed they had twenty-eight minutes left for the event. After some quick math, Sam knew she needed three minutes to top off her mana reserves for the final wave. She looked to the collapsed cave entrance and was about to call out to the survivors when a hole opened in the rubble, just large enough for Brenda to walk out, albeit stooped over at the waist. Nara quickly followed, darting around the berserker to run up to Sam.
“How bad is it?” Sam asked when Nara ran up.
Nara winced, glancing back toward the small exit Marin had created where Chad and Parish were exiting. With a sigh, she said, "Five dead: an archer, the wind mage, one of the tanks, and two warriors."
"Alina?" Sam asked, unsure why she even cared, but she needed to know for some reason.
"She's fine," Nara said flatly, "she lost a liver and had a lung punctured by one of the raptor claws, but Parish healed her enough to keep her alive. She's out of the fight, though."
From the look of everyone who stepped out of the cave, Sam already knew the answer to her next question but had to ask anyway. "How many can still fight?"
"Seven," Chad said, walking up from where he had been surveying the battlefield. "not including you and Lupie."
Parish and Brenda walked up as he talked, and Brenda gave Sam a side hug with a whispered "Thank you" in her ear. Sam gave the large woman a smile and patted her shoulder.
"I'm glad you recovered," Sam looked the woman up and down, continuing, "completely…wow, I thought I healed fast." Sam couldn't believe her eyes; Brenda's olive skin, lacerated and punctured beyond recognition just a few minutes before, was now smooth without even the faintest scar showing on her muscular frame.
"A perk of my class," Brenda smiled, "I take damage at an increased rate but also react to healing at a higher rate."
"Good to know," Sam said, then looking to Chad and Parish, she asked, "What's the plan?"
Chad and Parish both looked like they had been through hell and back with deep circles under their eyes. After looking at each other for a few moments, Parish finally started speaking hesitantly, "I'm not sure we can survive the final wave with the numbers we have. The best course of action is to hide in the cave and wait out the timer until the nine-minute mark. Then, hope nothing has time to dig us out before the end of the event once the final wave is automatically started."
Sam was shaking her head and was about to say something when Chad quickly spoke up, "We appreciate your help, Sam, but—" Lupie's angry chuff made him pause and give her a frightened look before continuing, "and your help as well, Miss, um, Lupie." He ran a hand through his blood-soaked hair, then looked at it in surprise for a moment before shaking his head in defeat. "We cannot win this, Miss Samantha. Even if the final wave has no more powerful enemies than the last one, there is no scenario where we all walk away from this with our lives." He looked where the wind mage's body was lying and winced, "at least those of us who yet live."
Sam looked at Parish and asked, "What are the odds we have already completed the event requirements?"
Parish shrugged, “there is no way to know until the event ends.”
"Then go hide," Sam said. She wasn't in the mood to argue. She pointed to the bodies of the fallen mage and what was left of one of the warriors, who she only now realized was Brian, saying, "Take them inside with you and collapse the tunnel." Looking into Chad's eyes, she said, "They will not have died in vain."
Chad sighed and looked as if he wanted to argue, but a low growl from Lupie stopped him from speaking. However, Sam understood his and Parish's thoughts, and she reassured them, "I promise to defend the cave entrance until only nine minutes are remaining on the timer. After that, you are on your own."
Parish nodded and looked at Brenda, who shook her head, "Oh, I'm staying with the little psychopath." She chuckled and looked to Lupie, "And that big, beautiful killing machine."
Nara said, "Of course, I'm staying," before Sam could ask. She looked to Lupie, "What do you say about having a rider, Lupie?"
Lupie looked over to Nara, answering through the event chat for everyone to hear, "Yes, Nara, I will be using my void spikes and howl on the final wave, so I will be moving very fast. I believe you are the only one here who can keep up with my speed."
Two other berserkers from Branda's team stood beside her with their arms crossed. Sam wracked her brain for their names, "goddammit, what good is over one hundred points in intelligence if I can't remember someone's name?" She grumbled to herself.
Nara again came to Sam's rescue, saying to the blue-haired berserker, "Ella, you and Hanna too?" Both women nodded slowly.
Sam noticed one of the women was missing and quickly asked Nara about her through their private chat. "She lost an arm and a leg," Nara responded to Sam's question, "I think if it wasn't for her missing a leg, she would probably be out here too, even without one arm."
Having seen the women fight, Sam was in agreement with Nara. They almost seemed to revel in the pain caused by the grievous wounds they received. Sam grinned at the three women, who returned her gesture with toothy grins of their own.
"Ahem," Chad coughed to get everyone's attention, "my skills will be off their cooldowns in three minutes. I can give everyone a slight boost in physical and magical defense; the closer you are together during combat, the more effective the defense boost will be. Still, it will offer a slight boost even if you fight alone."
"And I can cast a health regeneration spell that will last for five minutes on two of you," Parish said, cradling the body of the wind mage in her arms.
Nara quickly added, “I can cast the same regeneration spell on one person, but it will only last for three minutes.”
Sam looked at the three berserkers and asked, "Will the regeneration spells help or hurt your fighting ability?" She explained, "Lupie and I regenerate at an insane rate, so it would likely be wasted on us, and Nara has the heal spell Parish gave her, so she should be good. Plus, she'll be with Lupie, who can heal her if needed."
Brenda and the other two women thought about it before nodding to each other. Branda answered for all of them, "We'll take the spell. It might slow our rage ability some, but I think it will help us last longer overall." With a nod to Sam, she asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a plan that doesn't involve us all dying, would you?"
Sam looked from the three berserkers to Nara and Lupie and asked, “Nara, do you have any more drained mana crystals?”
At the question, Nara summoned nearly thirty empty crystals into her cupped palms. Several falling out of her hands to clink together on the ground. Everyone gasped at the number of crystals spilling from Nara's hands.
Sam was momentarily confused until she remembered how rare mana crystals were. She mentally kicked herself for not just checking in their party inventory. “Oh well, it’s not like they know how we got them,” she thought.
Picking up one of the crystals from the ground with a mana thread, Sam told everyone to stand back. Infusing a small amount of void energy into the small construct, Sam started counting and threw it as hard as she could to the far tree line. When Sam had counted to fifteen, the little crystal exploded with a pop. "Hmm, not quite what I am looking for…Nara, give me one that is only about half drained." Nara pulled out another crystal after dumping her armload to the ground. Closing her hand around the glowing purple construct, Nara drained some of the mana from it before handing it to Sam.
Sam did the same as she had before and injected some Void magic into it. The purple glow of the crystal instantly flared brighter, superheating the small construct in Sam's hand. Sam's glove burst into flame, so intense was the heat. "Shit!" Sam shouted and threw the crystal as fast as she could into the river and tried to put out the fire on her glove. Unfortunately, the crystal exploded just before it struck the water. It vaporized the first meter of water on the surface. It sent a shockwave that knocked everyone but Lupie off their feet from fifty meters away.
Coughing from the dust and debris the blast left behind, Chad spoke first as everyone got back to their feet, "What the—why haven’t you—how did you—”
Sam was happy he was using the event comms because her ears were still ringing from the explosion. She cut Chad off; it wasn't like he was making any sense anyway, "I had no idea that would happen. But from what I can tell from the skill I just used, that crystal could have just as easily exploded in my hand as it did over the river. The magic I'm using is obviously volatile, so I don't think—” Sam stopped short. She had an idea. She smiled her predatory smile with a manic look in her eyes.
Nara took one look at Sam’s expression and groaned, “Oh no, this is going to suck, isn’t it?”