[Moss Bed] = 4 Wood (Any, 0.8-0.95m) 2 Wood (Any, 1.5-2.2m) + 2 Wood (Any, 0.9-1.2m) + 80 Sticks (Any, 0.95-1.25m) + Moss (1.5-3kg) + 100 Twine (Any, 0.3-0.35m)
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Jay stared in awe, an ant in the face of a rising giant.
The runic symbols flickered with lightning as a mass took shape beyond. A grey canvas blob suddenly poked through the center of the ring, growing in size as it moved. Propellers whirled along its frame, with an ever-expanding metallic gondola strapped to the base.
A zeppelin had come.
It was an impossible sight. The construct whisked into sudden reality as it inched through the open sky, with nothing supporting its existence but the floating runic symbols behind. The further it advanced, the stronger the lightning resonated along the portal’s rim.
The zeppelin was truly colossal in scope. Tiny windows sat along the gondola at the base, and propellers sliced through the night sky with reckless abandon. The blimp itself dwarfed all else, growing ever larger as it advanced further through the portal still.
There were signs of damage too. Ethereal blue flame burst out from fissures along the canvas, and a couple of propellers twitched sparks as they wheezed onward.
That deafening horn bellowed again, warning the world of its arrival.
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.
Then the monsters came.
Through the portal to the zeppelin’s flank, a half-dozen shadows soared through. Their heads were in the shape of lizards, their wings spread wide, and the darker shade of black that highlighted their malevolent forms gave way only to veins of pale green light, and glowing eyes to match. The very air shuddered where they flapped their wings, echoing out thunder.
The drakes cried out in rage, and the hair rose on the back of Jay’s neck as he recognized that familiar undertone beneath their hoarse voices.
They were spawns of Natura.
The lead drake closed the distance. With another infernal shriek, it spit out a wall of green flame. Another chunk of the zeppelin’s canvas ripped free. More blue radiance leaked out.
The zeppelin tilted down, barreling straight into the closest mountain’s peak while exposing its underbelly to the drakes behind. Thin panels unwound from the base of the gondola like an origami crane taking shape. Round metallic constructs rose up from the gaps left behind, and pairs of thin tubes jutted out from each. They spun around to face the leading drake, aiming to kill.
…Were those what Jay thought they were?
The turrets opened fire, unleashing twin sprays of cerulean bullets into their targets, at least a dozen rounds per second. The Natura-powered drake cried out as it shed a few scales and withdrew. The others flew in defense of their wounded brethren, but to no avail. The rear-mounted turrets continued to track their movements. For every shot unleashed, bursts of light followed their trajectory into the night beyond. The monsters scrambled out of its torrent.
The respite gained was brief. With the turrets strapped to the zeppelin’s gondola, the entire top was left exposed. The drakes quickly took advantage of this vulnerability by swooping high above before diving into their enemy’s flank. The zeppelin continued to careen forth, undeterred.
Before the drakes could launch another attack, an iridescent bubble spontaneously formed, covering the airship from bow to stern. When more walls of green flame sprung forth, they dissipated against this magical barrier. Cracks developed along its rim.
With one final split, the barrier exploded altogether. Shrapnel of whitened energy shot out every which way, and the drakes again shuddered against reflected damage.
And Jay continued to stand and watch, unsure of what else to do. He no longer cared about the current state of his own Stats. Titans were clashing in the sky above, and he was just sitting there like an asshole on the ground.
Momentum continued to carry the zeppelin into the nearest peak, and for a moment, it looked as though there was no way out. Its speed was too quick and mass too great, the mountain’s side mere seconds away.
But then the airship ricocheted against empty space, flying back upwards.
Jay couldn’t believe his eyes. No, the zeppelin hadn’t turned around or adjusted its trajectory. It just bounced off nothing at all, losing neither speed nor encountering any friction as its direction inexplicably changed. A full one-hundred-and-thirty-five degree twist… With another ninety-degree rotation… Somehow performed instantly.
Jay would have assumed that his brain had short-circuited and missed seconds of time, but the drakes continued to zip forth, their own flight path still grounded in reality. This exposed them to the base of the gondola again, where the turrets were now thirsty for revenge. Magical bullets tore through the monsters as they struggled to change paths. Viscera rained into the jungle where some took critical hits.
The drakes floundered into another haphazard attack, hell-bent on destroying their enemy. A few managed to scrape against the zeppelin, unleashing more sparks.
But then the zeppelin performed another instantaneous pivot. The turrets repeated their attacks against undefended drakes.
How was this possible!? Jay had never seen anything half as preposterous as this fight. It wasn’t as though this airship was bending the laws of physics to its whims. If anything, it seemed to ignore them altogether. With each attempt by Natura’s monsters to pin it down, the zeppelin simply bounced off nothing into relative safety. The ultimate evasive maneuver during a battle of this nature, yet so utterly maddening to watch.
A thought suddenly occurred to Jay, and he considered the probability. As the sky continued to light up in glorious combat, Jay consulted the Guide and checked his Stats. His fatigue still hovered at more than an hour to go, but it was his sanity that drew his eye.
It continued to sit at a manageable medium with the “Confused” tag again, a fact that he wasn’t sure gave him relief or horror, depending on how one looked at the implications. Maybe both at once?
Another explosion resonated above, capturing his attention. This legendary brawl wasn’t some fever dream. Of that much, Jay was certain.
As if to further prove the point, a lone drake hooked a wider arc, attempting to attack from below. The turrets continued to hone in on this rogue, but their shots were a beat too late. A volley of cobalt-colored fire collided with the island below.
Entire ridges collapsed into landslides when they were struck by bullets. The open jungle went ablaze as though meteors fell into them. Even when the magical flame whisked out, sudden wildfires replaced them.
One of those cataclysmic shells even struck the valley where Jay had hunted the komodo dragon, no further than a hundred yards away. The concussive force alone sent him to the ground, and the explosive light blinded him for moments. His ears heard nothing but ringing when he stood back up.
A smoldering crater remained for far too many seconds before his mind figured out what his body should’ve done from the start.
Jay turned and made a run for it, his tiny legs struggling to clear as much distance as possible from this world-shattering sky battle.
The endless clatter of the turrets continued unabated, eclipsed only by the occasional dissonant battle cry of the Natura manifestations. Jay prayed that he could reach the shelter of his base. The steep cliff and narrow pass might be his only chance should another of those devastating rounds land nearby.
He jumped behind his dinky palisade wall as more spectral tracers flashed above. The door was shut moments later, as if that would make the slightest bit of difference.
The battle raged on while Jay trembled in his hole, throwing together crude tourniquets to stem the bleeding from his own fight.
Only now did he regret his decision to be a lone wolf. Having a second person here right now would do wonders, if for no reason other than to hold him tight and tell him it would be okay. He was once again stuck out here, alone and without answers and no way to reach the others.
Wait, I can, Jay remembered. He glanced behind on a nearby storage rack. The radio Naomi gave him sat where he’d left it, highlighted by flashes of green and blue from the night sky. It vibrated slightly as another missed projectile struck the distant ground.
Jay scrambled for the radio, ignoring the thundering blasts above. His fingers quivered as he turned it back on.
Voices resounded on the other end, blurred by the commotion.
“Hello?” Jay yelled. “Are you all there?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“–ooks like another lost a talon,” Sayid said on the other end.
Jay squinted. “What?”
“–ring due North?” Naomi responded as soon as he let go of the receiver.
Sayid sighed. “Jay, my friend. Please do not interrupt our conversation right now. Naomi, repeat that last message.”
There was a pause. Jay chewed his lips.
“What direction are they heading now?”
“They are moving west now,” Sayid answered.
“Good. We’re still hauling everything into Ben’s, so let us know if they change course again.”
More explosions roared, and Jay grit his teeth. How could they be so calm right now? “Are you guys seeing this shit?”
“You mean the apocalyptic light show?” Naomi quipped. “Kind of hard to miss since it’s tearing our island apart.”
“What’s going on? Where did this zeppelin come from?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Some asshole bumbled into our turf and brought their Natura fight with them.”
“You’re telling me that there are Expats up there?” Jay asked.
“Probably just the one,” Ben said, his voice more distant. “Those turrets looked automated.”
Jay glanced into the sky, with the zeppelin the size of an apartment complex battling literal dragons, using turrets that could level a city block on a direct hit. His brain struggled to process even a fraction of the ramifications to reach that point. One person built all that!?
“What do we do now?” Jay squeaked.
“If you haven’t already, then do what we’re doing,” Naomi said. “Find somewhere deep underground to lay low until the battle ends, unless you want to get killed in the crossfire.”
He looked from side-to-side, into the open space around him. How the hell was he supposed to do that?
The drakes converged on their enemy, now striking from every side at once. The iridescent bubble formed a moment too late. More sparks mixed with magical essence flared out where the monsters bit into the zeppelin’s canvas. The entire chassis rocked against the collective impact.
Jay gulped, his radio still in hand. “If there’s another Expat up there, then shouldn’t we, like, try to help them or something?”
“No,” Naomi snapped. “Even if you ignore the consequences of Rule 5, that’s some B-Rank shit happening up there if I ever saw any. Our entire combined might wouldn’t even make a dent against those drakes. This is way above our pay grade.”
“But that person might die,” he pointed out.
She scoffed. “Don’t worry about them. They sure as hell aren’t worried about you.”
As if to prove her point, the zeppelin performed another impossible maneuver, now dipping low, its turrets screaming in pursuit of a fleeing drake. The stray bullets tore through the trees and vines like a blowtorch through butter. An entire plateau became reduced to cinders in less than a second. The nearby trees swayed from the outward shockwave, moments later.
So this is the power of higher Ranks, Jay realized. Up until now, he’d only been able to track his own progression and the scale of power for Naomi and her friends. To be certain, their strength was herculean. Naomi could bounce through the trees like a manga hero. Sayid moved faster than eyes could track. And Desmond had the power of a giant. Jay had witnessed all three of these people in the act. Though only at E-Rank, their capabilities put them well above the strongest humans back on Earth.
This zeppelin pilot, however… Even if Jay couldn’t see them in the flesh, no one could deny the raw destruction they unleashed.
Naomi was right. The gap in power was utterly insurmountable. Between the impossible movements, the never-ending stream of magical bullets, and the forcefield, one would think that nothing could defeat such an indestructible juggernaut.
And yet, despite this extinction-level fury that had been unleashed above their quiet island, the zeppelin had failed to bring down a single drake. Most might have showed signs of being heavily wounded as the turrets laid into them, but they continued to hold their own, every step of the way. Their flamethrower and claw attacks continued to wear against the airship’s chassis, even as it threw up one contingency after the next.
The longer the fight wore on, the more Jay fixated on that one inescapable rule.
4) Natura can only grow with time. It does not recede.
Even now… Even operating at the level of a demigod… A B-Rank Expat could hardly survive against the brutality that Natura could unleash. Just as Jay had struggled to surpass his own nightly challenge, so too did this fellow survivor flounder.
Was this the true nature of this game-like world? Did the difficulty just keep escalating before it was impossible to defeat? Would there ever be an end to this? Naomi had said there were “nodes” at A-Rank, but she wasn’t sure if those were just rumors either.
And that would be a whole Rank higher.
The zeppelin pivoted again, now bearing toward the beach where Jay had first awoken. The turrets rolled back inside the gondola, too disheartened to continue. Metal sheets tightened like a turtle falling back into its shell.
And Natura pounced on the opportunity. The drakes swooped onto the airship, ripping apart the sides. The propellers moaned against the added shock, and more of the ethereal blue flame leaked out of its balloons. Jay grimaced as the battle appeared to be lost.
But it was not so yet. Another series of bright runes formed ahead of the zeppelin, creating a new ring. Lightning quickly flashed along its boundary, and a fresh portal was created.
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.
The horn blared anew, perhaps out of defiance for the enemy it could never truly defeat. As the drakes slashed against its weakened frame, the zeppelin accelerated straight at the center of the portal. Light began to sparkle along its length. The monsters’ flesh sizzled where their talons tore through.
Thrum. Thrum.
The second the zeppelin reached the portal’s edge, dazzling light mushroomed out, blasting its enemies away. The drakes screamed as one, now trapped in a reversing tide. When the explosion cleared seconds later, the zeppelin was already halfway through.
The monsters shrieked in pursuit with all their might, but they were too late to capture their play. The zeppelin disappeared into the portal, and the ring immediately closed behind. Only a single drake reached its edge, but reality folded onto itself before it could make it through. A hideous crunch resonated into the night sky as the magical barrier tightened around its pitiful form. A pop followed, vomiting out a mix of monster ichor and viscera where the drake had once been. The portal vanished, and the other drakes soared into the empty night sky.
His eyes traced a blob subconsciously as it flew through the air. Before he could wonder what it was, it slammed into a nearby hill, rebounded off some boulders, and dropped into the valley beneath. Jay watched dumbfounded as a severed drake head the size of a truck rolled to a stop mere feet away.
Its tongue sprawled out, dead.
And Jay gawked at the clear sky where the zeppelin had just been. Half in reverence and the other half in shock.
Once, when Jay was young, he had watched a documentary about isolated African tribes. Apparently, whole civilizations spent thousands of years in isolation, never so much as catching a glimpse of the outside world.
Jay had always wondered what it would be like to be one of those tribesmen, living generation after generation in their peaceful huts, all the way until a modern airplane soared overhead. He’d always wanted to know what it would feel like to be one of those tribesmen in that moment, when their entire understanding of the world shattered in the blink of an eye.
As the portal’s magic dissipated and the drakes flew off, Jay had but one thing left on his mind.
He knew exactly how those poor tribesmen felt.
Name: Jay Reis (Primal Age)
Vitality – 4/39 (Wounded+6 (Treated+6))
Hunger – 59/72
Thirst – 10/24
Fatigue – 1/8 (Poorly Rested+4, Stimmed)
Sanity – 60/100
Main Crafts: Armor Crafting 1, Base Building 1, Cooking 0, Medicine 0, Tailoring 1, Tool Crafting 1, Weapon Crafting 2.
Weapon Crafts: Axes 0, Bows 3, Clubs 0, Daggers 0, Spears 5, Swords 0.
Armor Crafts: Heavy Armor 3, Light Armor 2, Medium Armor 0, Shields 4.
Armor Skills:
Heavy Armor: [Push]
Light Armor: [Dash]
Shield: [Brace], [Track]
Weapon Skills:
Bows: [Sharpshooter]
Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]
Armor:
[Lizardscale Leggings+2] (Hardened+1)
[Lizardscale Gauntlets+1] (Hardened+1)
[Scaled Roundshield+2] (Hardened+1)
Weapons:
[Flint Spear+4] (Reinforced), (Hardened)
[Flint Spear+2]
[Wooden Bow+2]
[Crude Quiver]: Contains 7 [Flinthead Arrows]
[Crude Javelin Bag]: Empty
[9mm Semi-Automatic Pistol] (Accurate+2), (Quick): Contains 9 [9mm Cartridge] (JHP)
Tools:
[Flint Knife+1]
[Stone Axe+1]
[Stone Hammer+1]