The corrupted, wild beings of abandon, Tuskers, move in hoards. Their thick and brown hides can resist basic cuts from both weapons and Prana. Their tusks, being their namesake, can emit a field of corrupting miasma that makes touching the beasts cause mild pain to your average person. Individually, they're tough, but collectively they become a catastrophe that would require multiple A-rank fighters to subdue.

Unfortunately for us, we only have one person that fits this criteria. Boreal. And to make matters worse, he also has the duty of repelling the miasma.

Being only ten people strong, the odds were not in our favor. Naturally, panic sets in and everyone looks around the forest and uniformly stare in the direction of the roars. The sound of trumpeting footsteps compliment these sounds as well. But in the midst of panic, Boreal takes charge.

"Collins! To the frontline! I want you to clear a path with your prana and help me fend off those things!"

Another member joins in. "We'll keep up as the core and support you!" Prana cascades to the frontline, their enhanced strength becoming visible. A few feet away, I can see Olivia's golden prana glow up as she surrounds herself in a golden light.

Her Origin is Wellspring, having heavy ties to healing. I guess she's ready for us to get hurt.

"Kid."

I feel a heavy hand on my shoulder as I jolt and turn. It's Daven.

"I hope you won't feel too embarrassed."

"What do you mean-!"

The madman puts me on his shoulders like I'm a wounded soldier. I know I'm light for my height, but this is just too much...

"You know as much as everyone else that you won't be much help here. Don't cause too much trouble."

"...Alright."

We begin to move swiftly through the forest as we attempt to outrun the hoard. No one in their right mind would stay and fight these things, and so each member has the same thought: run!

Collins and Boreal remain headstrong as our path is cleared by them, but it's not without struggle. The number of Hell Spiders we've unhoused has grown, and they've joined the chase. Boreal summons his prana with even greater ferocity now.

His origin is simply Knight. He can conjure swords and clear areas in a single slash, among other things.

He shows no mercy to the spiders, as brown prana surrounds him. A long sword is formed in his hands, and he goes to work, slashing the Hell Spiders as they cascade down. One jumps at him, it's fangs ready to sink its teeth into his skin, and it succeeds. However, his defense is formidable, and its fangs crack from its own force. Boreal grunts and smacks it with the back of his hand, with the spider's remains heading directly to Collins. He summons a wall of his...slime and melts these before it reaches his face.

"You nasty brute-"

"Keep going!"

We continue moving through the cascade of spiders, and it seems that our pace is quick enough to avoid the Tuskers. At least that's what we hoped at the time.

The first of the Tuskers poked its corrupted brown head out from a tree further from my view, its many steps being heard moments later. Behind him were even more Tuskers. They caught up.

"Daven, they're here!" I yell loud enough to feel the sound in my head.

"Shit!" He fires a bolt of prana at the Tuskers, and it penetrates its miasma yet not the monster itself. Another member follows up with a blazing arrow to finish it off. But that's only one out of the many we'll have to face. Its brothers appear one by one around us, each maintaining a horrify speed and an even more terrifying formation, as if they're encircling prey. We continue on as to not get caught in this obvious trap, but everyone's stamina is running out. Near the front, Boreal gives a command.

"Prepare the ant lion formation!"

With urgency, Daven rises and his prana manifests across the field.

His Origin is Antlion. A creature known for its infantile traps and power. His prana manifests this across the developing battlefield as parts of the ground begin to glow. The onslaught of Tuskers are caught in these parts and their limbs are caught and shred.

"Normal my ass! You're at least all Bs-"

"Shush! I can't do this AND protect you while you ramble!"

I save my concerns for until we're out of this mess. We continue running as the Tuskers are slowed by Daven.

"I bought us a few seconds, but this ain't looking too good!"

"Are we screwed?" I ask this as he carries me, but my eyes are glued on the hoard as they approach.

"...not yet."

The Tuskers overcome Daven's traps and continue onward towards us, their warning roars eventually becoming the roars of death as their semi-circle formation begins closing in on us.

Boreal continues firing out his sword slashes and Collins devours as much as he can with his slime, but nothing slows them down. Even Daven's hidden strength and traps can't stop them for long. I look at boreal; his face mirroring the feelings of everyone here as we're pinned down. Dread.

"Bastards!" Boreal unleashes his prana to an even greater degree, piercing the hides of many Tuskers. The survivors move through the fallen and attempt to overpower him. One such Tusker lunges towards his arm but Boreal weaves at the last second. He still sustains a cut from this. Collins follows up and blinds the boar as Boreal finishes it. More members begin to attack and strengthen the others, and our group becomes a giant beacon for the Tuskers.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Not that it matters, we have to give it all we have. Yet all I can do is sit and watch as this happens around me.

One member is pierced in his side in the ensuing chaos but a stray Tusker, with two members coming together to kill the boar with fire and metal prana respectively. Olivia immediately goes to work on him and seals the wound enough to get him back up for combat, but he's still struggling.

Collins sustains a back bruise as a Tusker forces itself through our group, charging at him. Daven stops it in it tracks for Boreal to behead the beast. Olivia switches her attention and her and another member begin to heal him, but this isn't looking good for him. He can't get up.

Yet he fights on. And so does Boreal, as his forearm is pierced by a Tusker, to which he cuts it with a vertical slash in return. Another member shreds the beast's body and uses its remains as projectiles, with its remains cutting the approaching Tuskers. Combat effectiveness is falling.

But I notice the Tuskers are disproportionately focused on Boreal. The Tuskers are piling up on him three times more than everyone here. As I watch him, he, too, too charged but remains steadfast against the attack, grabbing the Tusker and ripping its head off. Another follows up, but he manifests his sword and it impales its head into it. His prana swells and many of the Tuskers around his begin to turn their attention to him.

Wait.

That's how they'll survive.

"Everyone! They're attracted to anything with a crap ton of light, like Boreal and his prana!"

This revelation stirs everyone but Boreal, who responds,"... You're right."

His expression shifts as his prana swells up. He's going to...

"Wait!-"

"Everyone start moving. They'll be focusing on me for the time being-"

I interrupt him. "Let me do it!"

He's dumbfounded. And so is everyone else. "What?!" They nearly say this in unison.

"Enhance me. Give me everything you got. I'll distract them as you guys run."

Boreal is the first to speak up. "This isn't a burden for you to take! You're-"

"It's either we lose an F-rank or an A-rank, and we CAN'T lose you. This is this best option."

"I'm not letting you do this, you brat!"

"Let me do this!"

"Let this kid try it." Daven speaks on my behalf. "We're screwed either way."

Olivia interjects. "But he's-"

"He's making his own choice. Just like we must if we want to live today."

Without further discussion, the core of the group begin to enhance me with their prana. Strength I've never felt before runs through me as I can see parts of my body glow.

"This isn't right." Olivia reluctantly begins to strengthen me as well. "But if this is what you choose...who am I to say no?"

Boreal comes up and taps my head, allowing his prana to seep in, as Collins and Daven create a blockade for the Tuskers as this transpires. They push but this combination of traps and slime impedes them long enough for me.

"...I'll be sure to come back and get...you. And I'll let your family know you fought valiantly."

"No need, Boreal. Just keep going."

"Thank you, kid."

The group disperses from me and heads forward as the Tuskers focus their attention on me and me alone. I catch glimpes of Daven and Olivia looking back, but their figures fade as they pave their way through the forest.

Is this it? Will I die here? Nothing to my name and for nothing.

It is. This is where I will be no more.

But I can delay it. I burn through my own prana reserves to enhance my already glowing status. The Tuskers eyes glow at this sight as they begin charging.

With newfound speed, I charge into the Tuskers with full force. No amount of enhancements can make me stand a chance against them, but I can evade them enough.

One Tusker charges at me as I run towards the hoard, but it narrowly misses as I jump above it. I do, however, make contact with its hide and the miasma singes my right hand.

Another Tusker tries to penetrate my chest as I recover from my jump, but I roll and transition into a sprint immediately. With this, I run for my life.

And I run.

For nearly an hour.

I pass by Tuskers as I run through the forest with nothing on my mind but survival, but they, on the other hand, also have a singular thought: killing me.

A group within the hoard charges at me as a single unit, but I jump on a tree right as I'm about to become their victim, but this does not impede the beasts, who charges the tree to collapse it. This works, and both the tree and I fall hard.

But I cannot stop. I recover from the force within seconds due to my enhancements and continue running with every Tusker in this forest on my tail. Sometimes i stumble, and sometimes the Tuskers will catch up and attack, but I'll keep running for as long as I have breath and power.

But my luck continues to dwindle. I am nowhere near strong enough to hold of the miasma, and I feel burning throughout my body. My breathing becomes shallow and agonizing as well, but I continue on.

The Tuskers have also began using their semi-circle formation against me and their unescapable death net continues to close in. I sprint sporatically to change directions, but this does not impede the beasts when it is one vs hundreds of them. For the first time, I manifest a pure prana projectile and fire at the ground, causing an explosion that beneath my feet that not only propels me a decent distance, but creates a plume of dust. This confuses my pursuers enough to create a few seconds of distance between us.

But without an Origin, one can only expel raw prana with the most basic of applications. Years of personal research are null with no way to use it. Or so I thought. Boreal left a gift: his immense prana.

With Daven as a blueprint, I propel prana into the ground with each step. Raw prana, when willed, explodes on contact with an object. The idea is to creates wells of prana in the ground that explode when the Tuskers themselves come in conact with them.

And it works, barely.

But once again, I don't have the fire power to kill them, but I will slow them down no matter what.

I also leak my prana into the air to cause the same mini explosion, hoping some will blind the beasts. And this works too. Just like sneeze will stop a sprinter.

Which is to say, it does little.

And so I keep running.

Until everything runs out. The enhancements fade and the light I once had is gone. My body collapses as I reach the edge of the forest. There's nothing but a cliff and the ground below.

This is the end of the road. It's time to accept that-

NO

NO

I DON'T WANT TO DIE

WHY DID I MAKE THiS CHOICE?

I already knew I wouldn't be able to accept it anyway. But I try to anyway. That's how my life has always been.

The Tuskers have caught up, their eyes still focused on my despite my lack of luster. They slowly approach, as if they, too, seek drama from this. I bag back further onto the edge of the cliff and I can feel part of it collapse. I turn to look at the Tuskers; they have all the patience in the world now. They approach closer and closer.

IS THIS IT?

NO

WHY

WHY LIKE THIS

BUT I'll go out on my own terms.

Using the fumes of my prana, I manifest a large orb of prana as it glows with unforeseen luminosity. The Tuskers instinctively charge as I aim at cliff below my feet. The explosion sends me off, but those Tuskers aren't safe. As I fall, I see the cliff and the ground it's connected to collapse like a bridge and many of the Tuskers are engulfed.

Some random F-rank at least killed this many Tuskers. That's an achievement.

That's something.

As I conjure up a final happy thought, I plummet to the ground, the wind hitting my back becoming my pleasant invitation to the end. And as I close my eyes, I feel a warmth in my chest and the remains of my prana stir.

Is this how death feels?

I then hit the ground.