A girl riding a meteor obliterated the supermarket.
“What the fuck is that?” Grant shouted at Catria. He’d leapt to land behind a barrier but the blast had launched him into the street. He tumbled to a halt, dazed. Luckily, the 2 damage he took from the ground impact was absorbed by his new shadow cloak.
They just rushed out the supermarket doors just in time to avoid the blast of fire that erupted, tearing the roof and windows asunder. It already wasn’t in good shape, but the supermarket was toast now. The car in the wall exploded.
Grant was thrown farther back and took 1 of the 3 damage from the shrapnel, Catria made it to cover behind a cement barrier.
The flames took on a draconic shape as the initial blaze died down. It was hot. Catria could feel that, but Grant was oblivious. “So uh, what’s going on?”
“I don’t see her,” Catria said. She could barely peek out over the wall without her skin feeling like it might be scorched off by the sudden heat.
“Think she’s friendly?” Grant asked.
“It’s hard to say,” Catria replied. “It’s an elemental, rank 3. It’s buffed. Could be a summoner.”
* - - - - -
Jordan had never successfully parallel parked more than once in her life, and now she was trying to land a fire elemental hurtling through the sky. The flames might not have hurt her, but she was afraid of taking out the very thing she’d come to find. Her compass had rerouted her this way suddenly an hour ago and was pointed straight at the building she was headed toward.
She realized too late she was coming in too fast. The elemental took the brunt of the impact, superheating and crushing the tin into slag. Jordan fell through a drop ceiling and onto a rack of potato chips. She was showered in crumbs.
Digging her way out the chips she grumbled, “the only time I’ll ever be glad these are mostly air.”
Jordan peered through the gaps in the ceiling. That did more damage than she thought it would. Water was pooling on the floor and she was half-soaked and covered in chip dust. Could this day get worse?
She heard it, then she felt it. A loud, unnatural screech. Something slammed into the roof and her elemental was gone.
Giant Terror Bird deals 43 damage to Fire Elemental (Rank 3)!
Fire Elemental (Rank 3) has been slain!
* - - - - -
Catria deals 7 points of piercing damage to Giant Terror Bird!
The beast screeched at Catria when her shots took it from the side. With a screech and the slam of its beak, the small wall Catria took cover behind was obliterated. Another cement wall erupted as Catria vaulted it, firing backwards with no success. Grant was scrambling to his feet as Jordan ran out of the supermarket.
Jordan hesitated. What was she supposed to do?
Grant clenched his fists. Scan. Scan! He had that now! He focused on the creature, not sure what would happen.
The action around him blurred and slowed. The bird was stalking closer to Catria at a fraction of the speed it had been before he used the skill. An outline highlighted the Giant Terror Bird and he could see the creature’s stats. The skill had a time dilation effect that would slow everything down around him while using scan.
Giant Terror Bird (Threat 4)
Prehistoric Monstrosity
Health [101] 5d6
Mana [60] 5d4
Stamina [106] 5d8
Power +4
Spirit +2
Mind +0
Magic +0
Luck +0
Traits
Unknown
Talents
Unknown
Jordan watched the woman for a moment. She definitely knew what she was doing. Then turned to Grant. He was staring intently at the giant bird. What was he doing? What should she do? Her mana was spent from her trip. She loathed using a potion, but nothing would matter if she died here!
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Jordan downed the blue liquid in the vial from her inventory and dropped the glass to shatter against the pavement. She watched her blue mana bar go back up as she prepared to activate Conjure Elemental. She’d use air this time. A whirlwind wrapped around her as she cast the spell.
Grant shot forward. He pulled two of the kitchen knives from his inventory and hurled them at the huge monstrosity. Both hit for a measly 3 damage total. Wow. That was lame as hell.
A blast of wind sent him sliding across the icy road and into a nearby snowbank. “Sorry!” Jordan called.
The conjuring was a success. Jordan’s winged whirlwind blasted into the frey. It slammed into the side of the huge bird. With balance lost, Catria took advantage and unleashed arguably her strongest skill.
Catria conjured a small bead of light within her palm. She took aim at the creature and crushed it. Immediately her fist flared with light, peeking through her clenched fist. Release. With the opening of her fist, the energy was released in a concentrated beam that collided with the enemy.
Wind Elemental (Rank 3), deals 4 damage to Giant Terror Bird
Terror Bird stumbles!
Catria deals 27 solar damage to Giant Terror Bird!
The girls’ combo attack took down nearly a third of the creature’s entire Health bar. Even after using Scan, a small display hovered around the bird that indicated how much Health, Mana, and Stamina it had left. There were no exact values.
“Thanks for the scan,” Catria called out. Unexpectedly useful ability, she thought to herself. Scan-type abilities were something the Grand Circuit recruited for. Maybe they could overlook his Void abilities.
Catria ducked into a building. That thing still had a lot of health. No time to think about recruiting for the Grant Circuit.
She needed a recharge for that last ability. Catria studied the minimap in the left corner of her vision. There were staircases leading up that would take her to the roof for a better vantage point. The map showed the local area, with blue dots to show allies and red dots to show known enemies.
“It’s mad! It’s really mad!” Grant was backpedaling away from the bird that had decided he was the problem here. Or the tastiest. The bird lunged at him but he warped out of reach. Then again.
He took stock of his surroundings. To his sides were narrow alleyways that would give him cover. Plenty of vehicles to get killed behind. He couldn’t see Catria at all! Her health had only dipped a little but she was fine.
Jordan’s air elemental slammed into Grant. He slammed through two snowbanks and into a third across the street. The bird rounded on her now that Grant was farther away.
Jordan was now running for her life instead. I can’t do this! I can’t do this! Her conjured elemental was doing all it could to keep the bird just out of reach. “Are you just going to let it kill meeeeee?” She screamed out.
BLAM! BLAM!
Two shots rang out in the open air. Catria appeared atop the building the Terror Bird had chased her in. She wasn’t using her pistol. She’d brought out the big gun, a long barrelled semi-automatic rifle. The gun was a magical firearm she’d found in a dungeon on her home Earth and had modified.
Catria deals 14 points of pierce damage to Giant Terror Bird!
Catria deals 11 points of pierce damage to Giant Terror Bird!
What can I even do? I have a knife! Grant was berating himself for not being more useful. The new girl had a giant wind thing and Catria was doing the majority of the work. He had to do something.
Grant used his Void Step to close the distance between him and the bird. He landed on his back and plunged his dagger between the feathers. His hands sank into the fluff. No contact. The creature threw him to the ground and stepped on him.
Crunch. Blam! Blam!
Giant Terror Bird deals 27 bludgeoning damage to Grant!
Grant gains the Crushed (Leg) condition!
Catria deals 16 points of damage to Giant Terror Bird!
Catria deals 13 points of damage to Giant Terror Bird!
A pain Grant had yet to experience bloomed within him. Intense, bone-shuddering pain. Towering over him with the Giant Terror Bird. Two blasts sent it reeling off him. Grant was stuck and imprinted into the ground. He felt like a cartoon character. The bird had a fraction of its health left and he was still useless.
Catria was recharging the magical cylinder in her rifle when it happened. She watched Grant get stepped on. Why? She was dumbfounded. She fired. Two more direct hits into the Terror Bird. No amount of fluff was going to stop these shots. Shouldering her rifle, she activated her warp ability to get Grant out of harm's way.
Grant was laying on the ground awaiting the final blow from the bird’s large, sharp beak. It never came. There was a sick feeling in his stomach suddenly and everything felt like it fell out from under him. The dull gray sky stared back at him when he opened his eyes.. He couldn’t move much, but when he turned his head he could see Catria crouching behind some of the signage on the roof. She was taking aim at the creature with her rifle.
“Just one moment,” Catria said. She didn't have time to deal with Grant right now, the girl's elemental had been destroyed and she was on the run.
Her firearm could fire 2 magical bolts with a short recharge between each set of shots. The weapon didn’t consume normal ammunition, it had a battery to store mana that she could fill later when she wasn’t in combat. The battery took roughly 12 seconds between two shots to recharge.
Jordan was on the move again. Catria was watching intently. 70%, she estimated. Her elemental was toast and she was just running. The bird was gaining on her. 80%. Jordan dove into the side-door of a minivan that was open. She was immediately showered with glass.
The windows exploded inward and Jordan was slammed against the other side of the van. The tip of the peak poked through just a bit. It pulled back and nipped at the door handle, tearing it off easily but unable to pull it open. 90%. Jordan yelped loudly. The beak punctured the top of the minivan. Once. Twice.
Blam!
Catria’s final shot sent the bird sprawling across the top of the van where Jordan sat, wide-eyed and out of breath. Was it over? The lifeless body of the bird shimmered and turned to silver dust and vanished with the wind.
“I’m so done with today,” Jordan slumped back into the equipment of the van and caught her breath.