I took a moment to gain my bearings.
From around the corner of the shrine, I could just glimpse Axel and another figure engaged in a fight, their weapons sparking as they swung them against each other. Unfortunately, his attacker had the reach on him. It looked as though they were using a polearm, maybe a glaive? Whenever Axel closed in, he was met with a fireball appearing out of nowhere to push him back. I couldn’t tell where the magic user was, as the origin point seemed to change each time. I had originally dismissed the idea of a hiding ability in lieu of range, but I’d been wrong. The spellcaster might very well be invisible.
Had they been following us the entire time?
Jye was standing in the backline, waiting for a gap in the melee fighters’ movements to fling their knives forward, an arm wound up, tensing, ready for the right moment. Every now and again, they’d flick one towards the origin of fireballs, but it would be too slow. Unlike the magic user who seemed to have fairly refined speed and direction control, Jye’s attacks were more limited to where and how hard they could throw. They hadn’t hurled a single one onto the battlefield though. The giant was afraid of engaging in friendly fire. Surprising, considering it was Axel out there.
Another hiss of ability. Wren was holding one of her hands out, and muttering under her breath. This was probably [Whetstone]. She was buffing someone. Axel? Maybe even Jye. Could she layer on the same buff?
“Hold out here, Gigi,” I said.
Xe nodded, and then ran to the next [Shield Wall] xe'd previously summoned.
I closed the distance towards Axel’s battle, coming up behind Jye and Wren.
Jye noticed me. Their brows furrowed as they said, “Man, I can’t get a knife in edgewise. And I can't pin down the fireballist. I'm hitting empty air ‘cause they move too quick after firing.”
Axel and his assailant were trading blows, weapons grinding along each other. His opponent seemed to be able to keep up with his speed. Maybe they had a similar trait. It would've been an even battle if not for the fire magic back up on our enemy's side. The same kind of support we couldn’t grant without risking hurting our teammate. What could we do to help without getting in Axel's way?
It was then I realised Tam was simply leaning against the side of the shrine, her arms folded. She was watching in faint interest. The brunette could’ve just as easily been taking a smoko break from a part-time job. That’s how engaged she looked.
“Tam. What the fuck?”
Her brown eyes met mine. “I don't got no skin in this game.”
“We're your party!”
“If they kill you all, you won’t be.”
I tried invoking the collar’s command. “Helping us right now is necessary.”
“Mumma says that’s up for debate.”
And here I’d thought we’d had something like a heart to heart. Well, if she was being petty, I could meet her at that level.
“What would your wife say?”
Tam’s expression became frosty. Target hit. I needed to push harder though.
“You don’t have any right–”
I thought back to the exploding wall. Why she’d been so angry with me. It’d taken until our prior conversation to realise why she’d been upset. It wasn’t that I’d been touching her. It was that she hated letting other people help her. She was so derisive toward my attitude towards others because she couldn’t even fathom allowing people to assist her. For some reason, she was afraid of being seen as weak.
“I bet you she’d think you’re being a coward. Cowering with your tail between your legs. Letting us do all the dirty work.”
Tam’s eyes blazed with anger as she pushed off the wall to grab at my shirt.
“Shut your damn mouth! I ain’t hiding behind y’all!”
“Not the way it looks to me, Tam.”
She let out an animalistic growl and flung her hands down, her face twitching with rage.
“Tam, I know you hate listening to me, but find the archer.” I paused as Axel screamed out, the attacker’s blade catching him across the chest, the blood stark red against his white shirt. A fury lit inside me. I met her gaze. “And kill them, if you can.”
A blast of smoke exploded in front of my face followed by a yowl at my feet. Tam had transformed into a cat. She rushed off, speeding out of my sight. Behind me, I heard the continuous thwump of a line of bow strings. Gigi was under another hail of arrows. Xe had a few [Shield Wall] worth of stamina left by my count, which meant xe could survive a bit longer. Tam better fucking do her bit.
“I’ll give you your chance, Jye, just wait,” I said. “Wren, how are you holding up?”
Wren huffed. “I’m good.”
“Can you buff me too?”
I felt her response, a zap of her ability being applied to me, like a quick surge of energy. In the corner of my eye, I saw the notification.
5% damage buff
“Thanks.” I swallowed, and said to Jye, “You’ll know when to hit the fireballer.”
With a hiss, Axel activated [Ground Smash] directing it through a kick to the ground. But before he made contact, his opponent simply jumped back out of range. The ground beneath them rippled, with some of the earthen debris flying up. They fell uselessly to the floor. Grinning, the pole-armist began their reapproach. I could see Axel swear.
Helplessly, I watched from the sidelines running the calculations of what mana and stamina he had left. He’d have enough for two more [Ground Smash]es, if I was adding everything up right. But they didn’t seem like they’d help him anyway. With his opponent’s weapon reach, they would be easily able to stay out of range of the ability.
I could see the slow damage building up on Axel as he struggled to find a way to fight back. He needed some relief, between fending off the fireballs and the glaive. Locking down the polearm-user wouldn’t help, since it would just mean the fireballer would be able to defend their teammate easier without both of them darting to and fro, Axel’s attacks much more predictable without having to compensate for their party member’s. But there had to be something to give Axel a chance, maybe something to close the gap of range.
The thought popped into my head and I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous of a plan it was. But I didn’t give myself the privilege of doubt.
Time to fucking go.
Borrowing Load from Jye, which did feel like the emotion of a grunt, I lightened myself, though I had no idea by how much, considering it seemed the strength of other’s abilities varied from my use of them, then I began sprinting. At once everything felt incredibly wrong. Previously we’d been thrown by Jye while under Load and then they’d released it. But moving with it, I much more clearly understood the ability. With each stride, the speed at which I was covering ground was insane. No. This wasn’t a drop of my weight. The ability had affected the way in which gravity interrelated with my body.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Jye’s ability was a gravity slider?
Tearing me from my thoughts, a fireball singed towards me, flinging from the right. I darted to avoid it, but with less gravitational force and thus lower frictional force, I didn’t manage to calculate the right amount of turn needed. The flame still caught me as I passed, burning right through my clothes. It seared viciously into the flesh of my side. Thankfully, as I bit into my lip against the fleeting burst of pain, it quickly went numb. But that wasn’t actually good. That meant it was a third degree burn. Good thing I’d had [Thick Hide] on. Without it, I probably would’ve been flambed from the outside. I didn’t even want to consider my current HP.
Axel and his opponent just registered my approach as I redirected myself, taking care of the additional effort and torque required with Jye’s ability applied. I withdrew the wooden broomstick from my system inventory and, without stopping, barrelled towards them both.
I was next to them in one more step; my staff held horizontally, ready to sweep them off their feet as I bulldozed forward.
To dodge the insane attack, the glaive-user stepped back, irritated by the interruption. Axel’s eyes met mine for a moment, clearly asking what the fuck I was doing, but he stepped aside as well. It looked like I’d just end up darting between the two. Good. I deactivated Jye’s Load, praying to God that I could pull this off. With the motion of my body returning to how I was used to, I planted the end of my staff into the ground to resist against the friction of the floor, turning it into a crude brake.
We skidded for a bit, and holding onto it for dear life, my arm muscles burning from strain, the world smearing by me, I used the momentum I’d built up to swing around it. Absolutely taken off guard by the random pattern of my attack, Axel’s opponent reacted; assuming I’d be aiming for their open weak points, they pushed their weapon forward to protect themselves.
Thanking them for their predictability, I flung my hand up as I continued to slide and grabbed the proffered head of the assailant’s glaive. The attacker’s eyes widened in shock, and they snatched it back, but I’d achieved my goal.
I released my staff, letting myself crash away into a tumble, winding myself. My surroundings were a painful blur. I was only able to glimpse as the glaive dipped, almost slipping out of the assailant’s hold.
I’d applied Load, increasing the gravity applied to the weapon’s blade. It would force the centre of the weapon’s gravity up, effectively halving their reach with the grip adjustment needed.
Still rolling away, dust kicking up, I finally came to a stop roughly a few metres from their battle. Jesus christ, how fast had I been running with Load? Feeling sore in too many different places, I coughed, out of breath, but knew I couldn’t rest on my laurels. I darted my head around, trying to spy any incoming fireballs. None were forthcoming just yet. Back at the shrine, Jye and Tam were anxiously watching.
I heard a tss and pushed myself to stand and run again, even as my body groaned in disagreement. The heat of a fireball blasting into the ground behind me gave me a surge of energy. This asshole would be next. Keeping on my feet, and ensuring I made more distance between their battle, I watched Axel’s fight in the corner of my eye.
As I’d anticipated, the effect of Load on the glaive had completely thrown the attacker off-kilter. They were still readjusting to it, and now they were closer in reach, Axel was able to get a few hits in, blood splattering from their wounds.
Their next attack went too wide, and Axel dodged it, sliding under. It was the opening he needed. He ducked in closer, swiping his blade at the attacker’s achilles tendon. It sliced straight through. The top half of the assailant’s split tendon snapped back up high into their thigh, like an elastic band released from tension, as blood gushed from the wound. The glaive-wielder let out a coarse guttural scream that pierced the very air, and staggered forward, taking their weight on their other leg. Seeing his chance to end the battle, Axel went in, animosity etched into his face.
I scanned the area, frantically. They had to be here somewhere… The ignition of a fireball snagged on the edge of my vision, a crisp glowing red spot. Bullseye.
“There you are, fucker,” I said.
As the fireball started to streak forward to intervene, defending the injured fighter, I used the last of my stamina to summon [Shield Wall] directly in the location that the fireball had originated from, forming it horizontally.
In that moment, several things happened in quick succession. My [Shield Wall] appeared. A pained grunt sounded. Out of nowhere, the magic caster became visible, falling to their ass, stunned, having been propelled by my shield. The already released fireball singed past Axel’s head, forcing him away from his easy victory. He slapped at his smoking crown, swearing under his breath.
Feet pounding dirt, I marvelled that my plan had actually worked.
It was only something I’d just realised; that the shield took up real space and matter when formed. It had been the arrowhead that had landed at my feet after my first [Shield Wall] that had given me the idea. The shield had been summoned into the same spot that the arrow was descending through, breaking the projectile in half. The ranged spellcaster, made out of thicker stuff than an arrow, had simply been ejected by the shield now occupying the same space. The theory that it’d break invisibility was based purely on Dungeons and Dragons and holding concentration.
Jye correctly understood this as their cue, launching a certified assault of knives in the magic user’s prone direction. Hiss after hiss sounded as they hit their climax, plummeting through the air and then sinking at a dangerously quick speed toward the body of the magic user.
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.
Each sound a blade eating into their flesh. The magic caster writhed around a moment, hissing in pain, then with one final twitch they stilled. I didn’t have time to reflect on that. Gigi was suffering another influx of arrows. Xe had been under constant assault the entire time. During my attack, all of xir [Shield Wall]s had burst into light, having taken the maximum damage they could. Beneath the one above xem, Gigi had already summoned another. Xe cast a pleading look our way.
I nodded.
I did not like that I was trusting Tam to keep Gigi alive, but with her improved senses as a cat, she had to be able to track the archer down. It was the only hope we had in that regard.
Axel, rage in his eyes, stepped towards the heavily bleeding attacker, their glaive held limply in their hand. He swung his sword at it, and it clanked to the floor, disarming them.
Holding his blade to their neck, Axel stepped behind them. Even from here, the groaning, the pleading, made its way to me clearly. It was over for them. Axel had won.
With the hope that we could avoid the worst and that the other player was lower level, I borrowed [Intimidation] from Axel. It was a vile feeling. Like dragging my mind through a vat of crude oil. The ability was meant to be able to manipulate emotions. I tried projecting fear and announced, “Stop attacking and reveal yourself, or we kill your last teammate.”
The archer was in between one of their volleys, possibly on cooldown. We waited to see what they’d do.
Silence reigned.
Gigi seemed to take this lengthened quiet as the archer’s surrender, releasing a sigh of relief, xir small shoulders imperceptibly loosening.
And then as clear as day, the same timbre slap of bow strings echoed out. Before their resulting projectiles could pelt into Gigi’s shield, Axel made true on our threat.
There was no hesitation.
No pause.
He slit the injured person’s neck in twain without so much of a blink.
There was a gurgle and then after the body fell limply to the floor the only sound was the thunking of arrows into Gigi’s [Shield Wall]. Xe’d only last a few more of those attacks before xe’d be at bodily harm. Where the fuck was Tam?
Abruptly, the rain of arrows ended before the full amount had properly descended. From the other side of the wall behind the shrine, just above the top of the crystalline quartz, I saw a wisp of smoke. The same kind I’d seen firsthand when I’d nearly died. A side effect of Tam transforming.
Speak of the devil.
Just Friends eliminated Test Name.
Just Friends earned 1,000 XP.
Just Friends awarded 121 credits.
It took a second for the monumental announcement to properly settle in. I stared at the system updates in disbelief.
We’d won.
We’d won.
And one thousand experience points?! Holy shit! That’d shoot me up to next level, maybe even LVL 3? This was our first real battle and we’d come out of all alive. Not even just alive! The only one of us that had taken that much damage was Axel, bar my minor (read: major) burn. And Wren could rectify that easily. We’d straight up killed this! But the weirder thing was 121 credits. Why such an odd number? I couldn’t think of any justification.
The clutching hand of Wren on the hem of my shirt brought my thoughts back to the real world. Her face was pale white, tears on the verge of falling were glinting in her hazel eyes, her lips fighting back their quivering. She was shaking, looking at the fallen forms of the party formerly known as Test Name. Their blood was seeping into the dirt of the shrine biome, staining the floor red.
The spellcaster’s body was a pin cushion of knives.
The glaive-user’s neck gaped open, fleshy and pink.
Both were completely still.
Oh.
Oh, fuck.
We’d just killed three people.
The vegetable crisps found their way back up my throat and splattered onto the floor.