A loud bang rang out as the bullet flew out, past Ribberman and into the solid white creature behind him, not killing it, but deforming its skull and causing it to lean back far enough for Ribberman to spin around and get it with the tentacles.

“Not bad, demon!” Ribberman exclaimed as the creature collapsed to the ground, another white soul flying up into the sky.

From all around them came the rustling of leaves.

Dark rainclouds loomed above them.

“I might ask you for help after all!” He remarked seeing the two dozen souls around them.

He stepped closer into the group.

“That’s why we came here in the first place!” WeabooMike exclaimed reaching for his chain scythe.

“Yeah, as if I’d give up the opportunity to rub my coolness into John’s face!” Sepukku4me_n_u laughed.

Chaz didn’t say anything, he only drew his blade and eyed the forest.

The ever-grinning Abutron held out his scythe, ready to attack the next pseudo-tulpa.

“Those things are whack, dudes…”

“COULD YOU SPEAK NORMALLY FOR FIVE MINUTES!?” Chaz demanded.

“What do you mean, dude, ya boy always talks like this!”

“DON’T REFER TO YOURSELF AS ‘YA BOY’ EVER AGAIN!” Chaz cried.

Heike and Dun stood in the middle of what now became a circle formation, healing spells at the ready.

Ribberman looked at the group, for the first time since the start he got the slightest hint of admiration for them.

What they couldn’t see were the violet tentacles that clung to each one of their weapons to make them more effective against the white monsters.

“Alright, everyone! With any luck, this adventure will earn you a good few levels!” Ribberman exclaimed seeing far more pseudo-tulpas than he expected.

There were more than the three-dozen created originally, there must have been at least fifty.

“So, let’s survive this mess and bully JohnWillStab about it later!” he exclaimed.

With that, the monsters advanced.

Their hands becoming weapons as they approached and broke into a sprint.

Sepukku4me_n_u fired his bow, the arrow flying out and skewering two monsters, the violet tentacles that clung to the arrow melted them on contact.

The two souls flying out into the sky.

Chaz ran his blade through one of the creatures, cutting and arm and a leg off before jumping back and piercing the chest.

Abutron was slicing the monsters one after the other, his speed was far greater than Chaz’s.

Heads flew out one after the other, decapitation seemingly being Abutron’s preferred method of killing things.

Occasionally one head would release a soul, though most got back up in order to be massacred once more.

Heike healed any minor damage that the others received while Dun used roots to trap the incoming monsters in roots and vines while Alistard took them out at a distance with quick bursts of bullets.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

WeabooMike was in a tough situation, ideally, he’d stay behind enemy lines, though separating from the group in this fight would mean certain death, he slashed at the enemies, swinging his weapon with great confidence and killing several soul-monsters.

Ribberman was clearing a path forward through the army of monsters with his tentacles as the others slowly inched towards the fort.

Suddenly, Abutron was slashed on the chest, the wound was gushing blood.

Heike started healing him, the wound closing ever-so-slowly as Chaz decapitated the soul-monster that inflicted the would on his ally.

“Quit being so reckless!” he exclaimed.

Abutron wiped the blood from his chest, his wound not fully healed.

“No worries, dude!” he slashed another monster open, they were solid on the inside, no organs or blood.

Heike was running low on mana, seeing this Dun took over healing duty.

“Alright, I’ll take care of the healing, you take a break!”

“R-right…” Heike nodded, he was gasping for air.

The group continued getting closer to the fort until they finally reached it, they smashed the big wooden gates shut.

“We need to hurry up! The gate won’t hold for long!” Ribberman exclaimed gesturing towards the stairs.

Alistard walked over to an old, abandoned chair, lifting it up and throwing it towards the gate.

“Get going, I’ll block the door and catch up!” Alistard exclaimed.

He pushed an old, rotting table against the door next.

“Right… I won’t be able to back you with my tentacles at this range…” Ribberman warned slowly walking up the stairs.

“Sure, whatever…” Alistard waved them away.

The group continued upwards as Alistard grabbed another table and placed his hand on it.

“Ammo synthesis…”

A magazine appeared on it.

“Ammo synthesis…”

Another one appeared.

“Ammo synthesis…”

“Ammo synthesis…”

After a while, the table was covered with nearly two-dozen magazines as the front gates began to tremble.

He walked up to the stairs again,

“Ammo synthesis…” this time he created ammo for his secondary class, the bomb class.

He placed several pouches of low-level explosives along the walls and stairs.

He walked behind the ammo table as the soul-monsters began smashing the front gate open, sending wood chunks all around the room.

Alistard aimed the gun as the door flung open.

He held his index finger down on the trigger as the sheer number of bullets pushed the monsters back like a constant stream of water or a strong wind.

As soon as he ran out of ammo, he ejected the magazine with a small, metal lever, grabbing another one off the table and loading it in a second before unleashing fire on them again.

“Steady Shot!” the ability created a target on the enemy consisting of his weak spots, as expected none appeared on these creatures.

“Aimed Shot!” this ability was just a slightly stronger projectile; it was the equivalent of a “slash” spell rather than just the automatic player attack.

Holding the gun with one hand he reached into his pocket to pull out an explosive, throwing it at one of the monster’s feet and shooting it, the small explosion knocked them back, though it was too weak to damage any limbs.

Again, his ammo ran out, he ejected the magazine and loaded another.

Meanwhile…

The group continued their way up, Ribberman’s tentacles dealing with the few enemies in the tight hallways effortlessly.

The sound of constant bullet fire was almost welcome as a sign that their ally still lived.

“We need to get to the top, that’s where the tentacle is pointing me!” Ribberman explained.

The halls of the old fort were filled with dust and greenery, a few rats scurried across the ground as the wall exploded.

Chunks of bricks and dust flew out as from the hold walked out a taller, more muscular creature.

“Holy shit…” Chaz remarked.

Ribberman reached for it with his tentacles, its flesh did melt partially but it healed equally quickly.

“What the hell?!” Ribberman demanded.

He looked at the monster’s soul and saw that it was entangled with a tentacle already, albeit a different shade of purple.

“The user is keeping it alive remotely!” Ribberman exclaimed.

“Damn it! The remote tentacle ability is way cooler than my stupid materialising tentacles!” he thought.

“So, we can’t kill it?” Chaz asked.

Ribberman hesitated.

“I… don’t thinks so…”

“That’s whack…” Abutron sighed, sounding more down.

Both he and Chaz turned to face the monster.

“You guys keep moving, we’ll keep him back!” he exclaimed.

“Damn right, dude!” Abutron extended his hand towards Chaz expecting a fist-bump.

“I refuse,” Chaz replied eying the closed fist.

“We’ll stay back too!” WeabooMike, Sepukku4me_n_u, Dun and Heike exclaimed.

“No, you need to go with Ribberman!” Chaz exclaimed.

“Right! What if another op dude appears? Shit’s whack…” Abutron explained.

“I hate to say this, but he’s right, besides, if Ribberman gets hurt this whole rescue mission could be over!” Chaz explained.

He turned to face the group.

“We’ll meet up with Alistard after we take care of this guy!” he added

With that the white monster charged at the group, they both cast their charge abilities, launching themselves and the monster back through the hole in the wall and into the large room reminiscent of a library.

It was slow compared to the others.

Chaz slashed his blade at the monster, this time feeling its tough ‘flesh’.

Unlike when Ribberman’s tentacles helped them, the flesh was hard as rock.

Abutron slashed at the foe, creating several cuts and cracks in their surface but ultimately failing to do any real damage.

“This is going to be tougher than I imagined!” Chaz thought.

Heike, Sepukku4me_n_u, WeabooMike, Dun and Ribberman continued their way up the tower.

“We should be getting close to the top!” Ribberman exclaimed after a few minutes later; they were running up the stone stairs as above the pitter-patter of rain muffled the fighting.

Soon the reached it, the top of the tower, Ribberman kicked the door open revealing the man standing the, he was a white-feathered harpy.

He wore a black jacket Ribberman could tell was created from tenecirus tentacles, aside from that he was naked as always.

“Hello, Ribberman!” the man announced.

Ribberman, as well as the others, stepped onto the wet stone in the middle of the rain.

“I’ve come to retrieve some souls!” Ribberman announced.

He knew JohnWillStab was doomed to lose to this person, thought he hoped he was still in them middle of losing.

“Really? Where are they, maybe I can help you look!” the man offered.

“Did you check under the couch?”

The man opened his coat, everyone covered their eyes as if they couldn’t already see too much.

Ribberman peeked at the man, he could see three souls attached to the insides of the coat, one had a bushy beard, the other a moustache and the last a raincoat-hood.

“I recently acquired these, though I’m afraid I’m not willing to part with them!” he taunted.

Ribberman summoned more of his tentacles, they coiled around his torso like armour and his hands like spiked weapons.