COI C198

The dolls had easily vanquished the students. Now it turns around to see the vast enemies that the student be easily defeat. The looters saw them and dropped everything and began leaving. The outlaw agatheans are really desperate to find something around here. The Victory Rooks and other adventurers were able to catch them. They put them in a cage and continue move on their way. The looters yell out in different language. Showing their curses and seals, removing it, and they turn out to be fakes as they fall apart.

The shield student and his team didn’t expect to lose, but it did work that they are not fully exposed. The bad news on their side, the spirits cursed them and brought them where they came. They can’t go back to the dusty wasteland until they found a way to get rid of them. With luck in their side, Joanne has the cure for the curse.

“I can’t believe Puma was actually there having ‘fun’ in the ruins”

Her friend asks the boys “What training will you guys are trying to do exactly?”

“Survive, and exposed some dangerous things out there. Random stuff we want to go and see. Shield here had in mind after our little experiment with teacher Ironno’s scroll”

Ironno steps in and sees the curse among them. A sense of warning from the message of the spirits. This is not how the dead spirits behave. Something or someone’s kin have been under the guardianship among the boy’s team. The shield student had a familiar, but it didn’t help him. It must be not important. Among these students in front of him, they have the guardian spirit who won’t let them bear any harm.

“This curse. This is a children’s pen curse . . .”

Everyone stares at Joanne “What!?”

Ironno continues “Someone among your group will be hunted down forced you all back where you came. This is can be your training now. Take good care of everyone. No one must be left behind. There is no such thing of sacrifice under the Jigeram’s light bluish glow. Of course, your scrolls I made only last for three hours. You still have 1 hour and 38 minutes”

The shield student’s healer made a remark as he feels like this training won’t be getting anywhere “Geez, is there any tips going out there?”

The berserker turns to the shield student. “We are both tanks here. That doll says ‘Puma’ who was fighting in the summer festival. What a coincidence that thing comes by all of a sudden”

Joanne’s friend knows about the doll but chose to not to react obviously. Joanne is mentally annoyed by her own older sister. She knew her doll is having a field day through the dusty wasteland. The city is covered in dust and the facilities are in critical condition because the crtstallization. A little hope comes to her when Ironno said it will be his training. Joanne prays for his success or she won’t be part of the team if they found out. Her friend is checking her ammunition with her rune arsenal.

“I will be reserving my shots for a bit. Joanne, I won’t be helping you fighting your dolls”

Ironno left, leaving the shield student and his friends starting to argue. The healer is the one who is making suggestions

“. . . We have to use our experience in the simulation room. That’s all we can do to train ourselves”

The berserker has other idea “Why can’t we take advantage with our scrolls protecting us from the dust? We can mow down with ease”

The shield student explains to him “If treated like the simulation, we already know that it will less realistic for them to suicide right at us”

The healer added “. . . Then that means we need to be careful as we did in the sphere. It is great that you can track our enemies, tank”

“Tank!? You are calling nicknames instead of my . . .”

“Your gamer name is too long and hard to say in front of people”

“You mean you can’t say how great it is, right?”

“Ugh, just make it easy for us. He is shield, you are tank, and I’m healer. Those girls will have their own names if they like, but I’m not going to say long names as we did in the sphere. It was kind of funny back then, but here is the real deal”

Healer is right, and also a great friend to the shield student. He is a very committed and serious healer. He keeps training with him from time to time when their group are competitive enough against the simulation. Although he has so much in need of resources, it has also basic Enders consumables. Compared to what Juela told him back then. Healers in this world are very crucial in after battles, and especially if they are able to use offensive magic. They can be bastards when commonly used spirits as their preferred spells. The shield student won’t ever tried to request him to use it. Shamanism is, what the spirits choose for their kits. They provide them the most primitive way heal like trying to dance, beat, scream at, and anything that’s not normally healing.

“Hey, you guys. Do you think we can beat the dolls?” Joanne’s friend approached them.

Healer has a proposal for her “Yeah, we have to run away”

“What!? No plan fighting against them”

“The only people who was able to fight are you and my friend with the shield. I have traits as a support, but the spirits are laughing at my spells”

Arsenal giggles at him “True!”

Berserker got caught from her laughter and joins in “Yeah, the garbage looking dolls are aiming at you and even tight you up to the ground”

The healer tilted and remained still for a bit. He can’t argue that the spirits are celebrating around him and channel away the magic he casts into the air like fireworks.

Thank goodness those guys thought it was them making fun of him. They have forgotten that Kes’thars are goblin spirits in a ritual made dolls. These guys never experience fighting shamanism and neither are the people in this city. He never takes thing too easy and takes the spirits into account. He has an idea, but it will take great effort to understand rituals. The curse starts to disappear as the healer erases the curse without.

Joanne was surprised “You know how to remove curses”

“Teacher Ironno said is a child pen’s curse. Then it can . . .”

The moment he was about to finish. All of them disappeared and reappeared where they start. Without a single second idling, they immediately take a run for it as fast they could. Only by slight minute, the sounds of the spirits are ravaging the dust roaring themselves by the sound of liona.

“PUMA!”

Joanne hears it and turned her head around. Her friend grabs her face and said

“JUST RUN!”

Berserker is tracking, foot tracks come from the invisible creatures, those are spirits he didn’t know. Where he sees a door slightly open, he pointed out to them

“There! Let’s go!”

They go through the door and found out there is a saferoom here. All of them made it there and left a small gap of the door to see what happened. Puma leaps with vortex of dusts coming along like it is its tail. A dense dust storm, there is a stuff bunny toy dancing along in the front leading the other dancing dolls, junks and toys following Puma goes. But something doesn’t look right, the ground they step moves like sand shifting as it is being pushed and claws or feet sliding through the pile of dust. Joanne’s UI is revealing Puma and its spirits.

Within luck, she can see what Puma’s boyz have in their rituals, curses, and chants. She shared the screen with the others as all of them can’t believe their eyes. Only the healer felt relief for some reason. The humiliation tying him wasn’t childish at all. It is how what the everyone who knows shamanism called them as, chaotic. The bunny doll wasn’t dancing stupidly, its ritual dance is holding up the packs of spirits flowing out from their toy/junk bodies. A single line meaning the bunny is holding the pack together from unleashing their magic rituals.

Different forms of spirits, goblin spirits carrying the afterlife weapons and items around in a smokey dust. Totems, wards, banners, and all kinds of ritual items through the hidden disguise as spirits. In formation, ready to fight. A doll appears in front of them as they pull them leaning next to the door. The shield student quickly raises his gauntlet with his shield. Berserker randomly flailing his axes in both hands out shocked leaving a soft voice

“What the fuck!”

Joanne quickly grabs arsenal’s mouth before she shrieks. Stunned and squirming, dropping her things including her heavy arsenal weapon, then she quickly picks it up when pulled.

Then the familiar appears to the spirits with a spook. They crowded each other by the door trying to get in. Fae-chan keeps busy trying to act like the rest of the spirits. They still continue moving around near the door. A soft tap on the door, where a head comes peeking through. Fae-chan playfully blocks the small gap of the door. Two dolls looking at each other, Puma and Fae-chan skillfully trying to block each other’s view. Joanne looks at them like they are playing around, all of them are acting like this is one of the spirits’ silly things.

Except for healer, he focuses on the shared UI screens. Terrified how what he had saw the real rituals they are trying to get in the saferoom. Out of curiosity, the spirits take a look again and saw more than terrifying. Puma’s rituals revealing the savage predator sliding in and out with its claws on the small gap, trying to look inside. While the familiar’s ritual creates a gremlin in a full dark silhouette with horns attached to its head. The familiar’s spirit is terrifying to look at with its horrifying smile, and at the same time the beast getting bigger and bigger every failed peek attempts.

A claw appears to open it slightly, and the dark gremlin quickly slams before it gets to open. The familiar ups its head as sign of victory and said to the spirits

“Time is wasting, more travels to come for the dead spirits”

It disappears and secretly returned in to the shield student’s inventory. His friends were glad they escaped, and they don’t want to know anymore after what they saw. They successfully run away from the spirits. Especially the prior target such as Joanne. She looks at the UI and Puma is already gone. She could finally get herself experience this dusty wasteland.

They quickly get out from the saferoom, but arsenal is still trembling. Healer gives her his juice

“Take it, this will ease your nerves”

“Uh, thank you. This juice . . .”

“You don’t like it?”

“No, no, no but this juice is hard to come by in the cafeteria”

“Yeah, well. My classroom is closer to the cafeteria. I got mine easily”

Arsenal stands up and barely making her legs stay straight, and with the sip of the juice she feels refresh and more so it feels cold too. She looks at Healer, shaking his hands as he used cold runes instead of actual magic.

They walk out and Arsenal didn’t finish her juice. The juice turned into crystal and she sighs miserably

“No”

Joanne hears that shy voice. “You . . .”

Arsenal quickly back to her normal tone, she whispers to her

“Don’t! I still not decided yet”

Joanne watches her friend eyeing to him as a Highschool girl get easily fell in love. Berserker notices her expression and whispers to Healer.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I think she likes you”

“Said again when we are back at school. We shouldn’t be making gossip here”

The shield student and tank quickly stop as their only healer to tell them to knock it off. They follow Healer’s plan as they soon found out more into the densely dusty fog. The scrolls helped them cheat a bit as they barely see anything as they go. The luck that the berserker used to track down the trails without getting hit by the massive exposure. The dusts on their shoes. The crystals all around their body crumble. The sound with every crystal break like shattering glass. This place is nowhere a life could be easily been seen. On the map, they are heading to Taiyou Industries. Their curious minds wanting to know what happened in the last siege peak everyone’s interest.

They made it closer than they thought as the shattering city barrier still remains and blocking their way.

The berserker swears “Shit!”

Joanne smacks him “How long will you have to swear with every failed attempt we come across?”

“I can’t help it. I was wondering we could fight anyone in this horrible environment”

The healer didn’t believe him “I really want to talk back at you. But this shield’s training. We should use what we have learned when we are doing our usual visits to the bridge”

“Like we done better, but this is the real thing. We can’t possibly” Berserker tries to talk with him, then he sees tracks that looks weird.

Joanne sees his reaction “Let’s hide there, I don’t think your friend of yours acting to stop being a jerk midway”

“No, if this is an Enders. We should stay put”

“What!?”

Something is rolling to their side. It already fell into crystals then faded away before it even continues rolling pass them. The shield student raises his runic shield and form a barrier. He swings around for a bit to get rid the shards crystallizing their auras, and Berserker finds an enemy mana passing through. The healer brings out his special scroll and forced summon with this mana they found.

The detection magic corrupted and forced summon the people on top of them.

Arsenal yells at him “Wait! Wait! They are just people”

Joanne quickly summons her javelin and hit them on their limbs. The barrier breaks down, but the people fell to the ground wounded and corroded on the crystals. Berserker reaches out to them

“Hey, why are you attacking them? Joanne. Ootadakimasu . . . !!!”

The people fight back as one of them attacks berserker. Berserker get thrown with dusts blocking his view. He knocks back a bit out of surprise.

Without a second glance. Arsenal shots one of the enemies, he got pushed back and the shield student bashes him. Hearing the sounds of his bones breaking. He fell down. The enemies weren’t even trying to fight, but it seems to use some of their magic to escape. Their bodies show marks on their body as others fell in a form of a dummy. They thought they could beat them, one after the other, none of them were real. Healer spout out the nonsense of those people

“Of course, they are prepared for this”

“What’s going on? Why didn’t they attack?”

Joanne knows “I guess Oota . . . I mean, let’s just say we found what them”

“Them?” Arsenal wonders

The shield student remembers this same trick “This is the same trick did the Enders had done in the sphere”

The healer starts sweating “Don’t say that, you know how we failed for so many times. Thank goodness, we are not ambushed that fast”

Joanne agrees “Yeah, and they are not that strong because of the dusts. Either way, the loots here are just junks and debris but . . .”

The shield student knows why “There is no but, Kinteinnou region lacks ores and metals. These desperate are looting for metal scraps”

Berserker sees something leaking off from their foreheads. He checks them. Healer warns him

“Don’t try to get closer or you will get what you deserved”

“I know what I’m doing. See!”

They see something hiding behind the dummy’s skin on its forehead. The writing in black ink and the same color pigment that the shield student remembers. Tales of Rusic’s made him remember the legends. Joanne senses it, the quiet yet unsettling movement is coming their way. All of them know the feeling and try to hide again, leaving them into the dusts.

They hid inside the building and saw more of them coming. A stranger with few others, those others though, are nothing look human. Man-sized puppets, the stranger pulled the dummies up and said to them

“Bandits, another fools . . . I know you are hiding. Let me finished you off”

The students watch by the window. Where the same people getting resummoned again, then the stranger quickly imprisoned them into a crystal tomb. They quickly being succumbed by the dusts and absorb into the crystal. Turning them into solid shards with their disfigured remains trapped in the crystal.

30 minutes left for the students to return. The stranger turned the remains into puppets. Less so than the others at his side. As the fog blocks their view, the shield student saw the emblems of the Enders. Mostly common to be found as magic symbols. It glows its logo and warped away. Joanne takes a breather

“Phew. I thought this training will be walk in the park, but that guy I feel like I’m in danger”

The shield student feels it too “I know, I guess healer made a good idea after all. Healer?”

Healer checks his UI and the status they are in. He wasn’t happy at all nor relief. He looks at the situation and sends the status to their UIs

“Take a look, you can’t believe what we are in”

The shield student sees his UI, limited. After a closer look given by Healer. It is proof that the stranger kills them. It is a danger notification, blocking from getting in. His UI though is not functioning though. He received a message but still blinking as if didn’t see it. The shield student starts to feel like he is going to regret that he shouldn’t be using his UI as an Enders.

“I see”

He read it and the sounds of the stranger’s voice heard from the outside. The stranger’s puppets and his newly fresh ones are sneaking in. Meanwhile his friends are detecting an intruder is coming in. Berserker raises his stronger dual weapons and Healer bringing out distraction spells. They look at the scroll as the time has 20 minutes left. Joanne and Arsenal can’t help why the two is getting serious of all the sudden. The floor below had broken through, the two girls quickly ready themselves as they feared the danger of the threat.

The shield student tries to identify the stranger. It must be a scout. Or better yet, exposed and weak. They can’t seem to forget what happened to them in the sphere. Enders are not letting anyone to live and see what happened to their enemies. The problem is why they are detecting danger. They need to get their scroll to activate before they could face each other. They have meet Enders before, they are not ready to fight their multiple capabilities. His friends look at him with his gauntlet ready. They are sure they could hold them off, then they turned to the girls.

Berserker asks them “How far do you train in the simulation room against the Enders?”

Joanne coughs out from her breath to hear how they could fight against them. “At first, I don’t know they seem to run away a lot after some encounters”

Healer is setting up his spells and his own personal notebook to craft the scrolls against the Enders. He would never think he could waste such good paper from the forest he gathered during their first quest. Haw teaches them one by one during that time in the forest. He is glad that he has specialized himself against the Enders.

“It is ironic for me and some of us have interest of beating the Enders. We won’t be easily be killed, and I hope none of us get ourselves killed . . . Huh!”

Berserker left some noise trap from the entrance. The Enders have already entered. The shield student feared from his UI is right.

“I see”

It crawls back to his head as they already know. A deep breath, little confidence, and his gauntlet is powering up. This the training what Ironno want him to do, all alone. The room brightens, without any given chance for an ambush. The Enders found him, and the stranger knows their many advantageous.

Arsenal gives a fast reflex and shoot her enemies with a clear shot. One single bullet at the time and all the puppets were destroyed without a single miss. Two of the puppets are dripping real blood slowly crystallize. She trembles after seeing the same bandits died and their distorted form from the stranger’s magic. The stranger sees a slight paused from her. He morphed together with the two dead bodies and uses their blood as a fuel of his magic. Flesh into ashes, a portal is form and he comes out from it.

He leaps forward but quickly impaled by Joanne’s lance. The stranger slides it off as the excess form he made by the two dead bodies contaminated her spear. Joanne was tugged down her lance to the ground and the remains drip down on the floor. The stranger manifests himself and punches her. Forcing out the mana she had in the inside pushing off balance. Then he grabs her aura out from her mana flow. The shield student comes to her aid and uses the gauntlet to break the hold. The stranger gathers what mana he takes and explode it between them.

“AAH!”

A ghastly scream as his bodies spread out and re-manifests. He pulls out his potion and turned himself once again merging with his puppets. This time, the materialize puppets gathered around him. Creating a body made out skeletal creature, with multiple legs climbing at the ceiling. The stranger takes his aim at Arsenal. Berserker brings out his hook and chains and tried to pull him in.

“I got it!”

He hooked to one of its legs and ribs. The stranger ghastly laughs at him as berserker pulled its materials out.

The laughter took affected on him. Berserker repeatedly use his hook and chains again, deliberately taken off the materials the stranger didn’t need. Carefully manipulated him to make his skeletal body more efficient to fight against Arsenal. Healer started to notice

“Usweet-rice’eating moron!”

Berserker stops and almost start grinning and loses it after the half one. “You almost got my name, right?” Where the laughter breaks his focus. Healer quickly casts his dummy to cover her before the stranger strikes. The dummy reaches in and blocked the stranger’s attacks.

The countless needle like legs hits the dummy, the mana it leaks out with large amount of mana mixing with from the stranger. Large pressure of both mana fusing together forcing out like it cleaning the dummy Healer quickly reaches to her, trying to save her but he gets hit with needles and forced to go back. Healer’s dummy leaks off the mana then sucked dry like a spire poisoning it then sucked it dry after the injection. The dummy releases toxins. The sense of death breathing through her lungs. Her resistances were easily overcome. Arsenal readies to shoot the stranger down. Blowing off parts of his body.

The skeletal body breaks fast before touching her. The Enders wasn’t that easily given up. The barrage of gun fire as he continues to fight against it with his needle like legs. Arsenal pin point with every joint she could find on the materialized puppet body. His original body merged and safe with no stopping him from fighting. A chance for him to fight as death is closing. Arsenal screams out of terror where she is still being attacked with needles. Her body feels injected with unknown mana through her.

She fell down numbingly as the unfamiliar mana is digging inside of her. Joanne comes to the rescue with her lightning-fast counter. The stranger’s materialized body is torn apart, but keeps its desperate bloodlust on Arsenal.

“Holly! Shield student! Help her!”

The shield student comes in with his gauntlet grabs his head before he reaches out his tongue with another needle. He breaks it and the stranger finally stops. Arsenal’s body mana is mixing with his, can’t able to get it out.

“Agh! What is this mana? AAH!”

Joanne picks her up as the agonizing pain. Another noise s coming from the entrance. Berserker hears the other one coming and chose to block them. One strike, when he is about to block. A slight movement when he sees a blade hits his head. Another Enders, riposting while using rune magic. A cut deep into his head, and Berserker fell down. The Enders didn’t stop as he reaches to the shield student. The shield student reacted and barely blocking the blade reaching to his shoulder. The two battle out as the sword reaches to the gauntlet’s palm.

A thunderous force where the Enders blade reaches to his gauntlet. The shield student able to resist the spell. A proper and realistic stance to withstood against such a force. The Enders take it seriously and place his own stance in a proper hold. The gauntlet stops the cut of the blade. The Enders can’t move from the strength of the archscience tech. The shield student calls out to her

“Joanne, help me here”

“Got it”

A lance pierced through the Enders side. A UI pops up from the Enders ‘resisting . . .’ Joanne was caught off guard where she sees the Enders have one.

“How?”

The control of his mana, a slight twist of the holding stance. Breaking the floor, putting off balance from Joanne’s feet and trip into the shield student. Both of them falling down on the floor. The Enders focuses on Arsenal again. She sees the two are in the safe place for her to shoot. She switches to rapid fire and tried to take him down. The Enders dashes forward with his sword keep steady to the front. The moment of the bullet raining down on him. The Enders slices all the bullets, few deflections ricochet across the room. The interior breaks open large holes like it was hit by a tank shot.

Arsenal feels her gun weighing lighter as the slashes cut through her equipment

“No!”

The Enders wasn’t finish. His deathly stares froze her. Not only she was frightened, her heart, her body, and even her mind froze. Completely stunning and trembling from his presence. Tears flowing out in her eyes as her death is close. Healer appears out of nowhere and take the hit. The Enders slice Healer’s body and his UI breaks apart. The magic scroll made by the healer was able to stop him from dying. The timer is up and the team disappeared. The swordsman looking up his UI and see the conditions of those students.

The shield student is an actual Enders guild member. While the rest are all alike of a citizen, this young boy has the blessings of the heavenly demon. The Enders who controlled the puppets appeared, after quickly worn out the effects of the potion. He said to him

“Not even the amateurs we can’t able to kill”

“Hmm, you said that like you know their deaths are coming”

“You follow my lead, that girl with the massive looking gun. It has those bullets”

“I already cut it. Nothing to fear for the child is feared. She won’t be able to focus her aim”

“What now?”

“The light particles of the Jigeram’s light are making us harder to fight them. Considerably those younglings able to resist it”

“Of course, the other one is an Enders”

Ironno sees the student horrified and at the same time downright beaten down after a first actual Enders. They tried to show them with their UIs, but it seems they were gutted. The only student who was not slice by the enemy is Joanne herself. Her UI is able to record their fight and the backlog is really made her feel anxious.

“These logs, are you sure this is the right place for your training, Miyusuki? Teacher Ironno?”

Ironno sees the back logs and saw something dangerous. But at the same time, no problem for the shield student could handle. His guesses to any of them are enduring the reality of it.

Healer has the supposed severed injury. He was able to use his scroll to block it. It made Ironno impressed.

“This one knows how to fight an Enders. You were almost cut down, and anything else that all of you survived”

“Heh? Then why that Enders is hostile?” “If I have to guess, those people who are attacking you are probably are against your existence. Let’s preferred them to be criminals. However, after that little incident. It is still you’re training. Comeback again, I’ll be continuing this as his training. You might be lucky if I brought some people with me”

Without any proper explanation they leave them a mark they seem to feel to regret.

Berserker starts to doubt. “I think we have done a little too far, right guys? Guys?”

Joanne and the shield student had their talk. Healer is looking at Berserker, shaking his head while busy with Arsenal. Arsenal hugs him due to the effects of the fear, but in actuality she is so blushed and moved by his heroism. She is too shy to see his face that she has a crush on him. Without knowing, Healer comforted her. Arsenal screams internally with embarrassment.

After that issue, Berserker and Arsenal are the only two are shocked by their enthusiasm.

“Continue!? We almost got ourselves killed. Why not trained ourselves back in the simulation room? Healer here has made really bad injury on his back”

The shield student agreed “Yeah, and we are facing an Enders criminal. We are not facing other people yet”

Joanne is confused “So, that’s why you waited for one v one? You guys are too dumb”

Healer shakes her doubts, giving a serious look “I was supposed to help your gunner, but I stop and noticed that there is no solo Enders. Without me sacrificing my UI for her, I’m not have one of our team dying in the first night”

Arsenal turns away and blushing, but he is not wrong. Her RAP has a special unique identify. Adaptive shots, all bullets are penetrable to all defense. Then she asks him “Then what happened to your UI, uh Ootadakimasu” He shakes his head, worse than he had to experience it. “I better not” As they saw his back cut deep through his organs implemented with his magic scroll. Healer is bearing such an incredible killing blow. The scroll he used to block it will be the reminder of himself that he survived.