I groaned, slamming my massive left claw and crushing another G-class into mush, my body welcomed the tiny burst of healing as it patched more of the damage Shadow had caused. The next blow sent the other small monster flying off, careening and splattering the whole way down the mountain.

The assassin’s blow had nearly ended me, but I’d dragged myself out, surviving by a razor-thin edge. It’d only been possible thanks to a combination of factors all working together. The brutally high durability making me tougher, the endurance bolstering my heal-factor and being all the way up at +400. And even then, the metaphorical cherry on top had been killing the E-class, giving me just enough of a boost from the AP…

If even one thing had been slightly off, I’d almost assuredly be dead.

That wasn’t to say I was safe or stable.

Power Mode (6): * -6 AP / Second *

* -1 Durability / Second *

* +8 Strength / Second *

With durability having reached its cap, my best option to continue healing was to activate Power-mode and have it guzzle every shred of AP I could get my claws on. I could’ve jumped back to some previously bolstered stat, but 200 to 300 speed was not going to make as much of an immediate difference as 10 to 100 strength.

The horde of monsters that was fast approaching was a readily available supply of resources, but even I knew that it was untenable. The moment anything over an E-class showed up, I’d be toast… If I had the room to cross my fingers and hope my escape-plan worked, I’d have them all tangled up by now.

And there was the problem of Shadow.

The meguca was currently preoccupied with the flock of mirror-type Parroteers, trying to fend off the monsters that wielded weaker versions of her own shadow attacks as they flocked and harassed her. Unlike me, she couldn’t readily tank the blows, forced instead to dodge, constantly jumping, even needing to vanish into blackness from time to time. But it was clearly not a winning strategy, she was exhausted, and whatever resources she could use were clearly running out.

Every time she tried to go after me, she’d get intercepted or attacked from unexpected angles. The meguca was clearly growing desperate, and I could only assume her powers were a poor match against being outnumbered and unable to escape.

Parroteers, mirror-types in general really, were monsters considered equal parts annoying and dangerous. Their ability to create a weaker copy of a target’s capabilities was an intrusively insidious one. For example, when confronted by a soldier with a gun, or a piece of artillery, they’d develop the capacity to shoot back. This was what made them exceedingly dangerous when copying the powers of a meguca, as they could access capabilities that even when watered down could be a threat. But what truly turned the parrotteer and their ilk into an economic nightmare was that they also gained resistances against whatever they copied. Tackling them on your own was generally a massive waste of resources. This made them the least profitable kind of monsters around, while the higher-class individuals could become nightmares, with even a C-class needing to be dealt with by at least four megucas at the same time.

Shadow of a Doubt (1): Survive 43 minutes

Not that I’d do something so stupid as to try to make the assassin’s job any easier when I was still half-dead and on the clock. All I could do was fight anything that got close while I kept my distance from Shadow, searching for any signs of something more dangerous being on its way.

With a roar, I slammed the shield on my right into the head of some monster too covered in mud for me to recognize. I just hammered away with every ounce of weight I could muster, finishing the job with a swing of my spiky tail. Another tiny burst of healing made the feeling of live wires inside my chest to die down ever so slightly.

I sensed something approaching from overhead, and immediately ducked as one of the parroteer’s blasted a wave of darkness at me. It screeched against my armor, trying to pierce through and only managing to scratch the obsidian. Even then, it had enough power that with the slippery mud, I stumbled. I almost sighed in relief, clearly the power lacked whatever had allowed Shadow to cut bits off of my exoskeletal protection. Maybe it required a physical blade to work properly? Whatever the case, I was ready when the monster launched the next shadow-attack, barely feeling the impact.

The parroteer let out an annoyed screech and shifted, the mist-like darkness that had clung to its body dispersing as its wings took a distinct obsidian like glimmer. I grimaced, fully aware it had now switched the copy target to me, though not without a little touch of anticipation as it swooped down with blade-like limbs.

Wing met my big-lefty, and the washing-machine-sized monster lost the collision against my doubled mass. It careened wildly and slammed into the mud where it tried to desperately escape.

Not wasting a single second, I pounced on the monster before it could become airborne again, stomping down on it over and over, feeling its body refuse to break. The monster flapped and spun, desperately trying to escape, but unable to under my massive weight. So I continued to hammer away, harder and harder, until the obsidian crust began to crack and bend. The monster screeched, crying out as I pinned it with one foot and pulled at its wing until it ripped.

Even then, the thing was far too lively.

Not that I got a chance to continue my assault, several attacks hit me on the back at the same time, carrying enough force to knock me over. I turned to glare up at the sky and the dozen or so mirror-types that were trying to get a shot at me, each of them screeching my way, bombarding me with shadow attacks.

I had to keep my eyes on the prize, no doubt killing the thing would-

A flicker of darkness, every alarm in my head rang out as I realized I’d lost sight of the biggest threat. Shadow sprung out from my shadow, The meguca screamed in a mix of frustration and desperation, middied hair whipping wildly as she thrust, straight towards my chest, the shadows coalescing and drawing into the very tip of her sword.

I spun, blocking it with my left arm.

And in an explosion of sparks and shattered metal, the blade broke into a thousand pieces.

Achievement: Hit me thrice Gain limited resistance against the type of damage you receive thrice in a row.

The system goaded and cheered, the shadow-attacks from the mirror-types having counted for the ability to trigger, turning my body that much tougher against the meguca’s attack.

I roared, every ounce of anger and frustration boiling over, raising my massive left fist, ready to bring this hunt to a violent end.

For a moment Shadow’s attention lingered upon the broken blade before, slowly, our gazes met.

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The meguca closed her eyes, clutching the hilt of the sword tightly against her chest.

And I…

I hesitated.

Shadow of a Doubt (1): Survive 19 minutes

The timer was still running, she had a mission, I couldn’t trust she wouldn’t try anything else. I couldn’t even be sure she wouldn’t try something even if the timer ran out. Movement drew my attention beyond the meguca, noticing the monsters overhead as they were preparing for another volley.

All I had to do was nothing, just step back.

I didn’t even need to let her die, just get battered around some more until she was barely holding on by a thread.

Just step back.

Gritting my teeth, I tackled Shadow to the mud, using myself to block out the attempt on her life. The meguca wheezed and choked under the weight of the impact, coughing as she was practically drowned in the mud, but there was no time to wait.

Having decided I wasn’t about to leave her here, I yanked her out and began lurching towards my escape-plan. The increased strength helped me take longer steps, trudging through the mud like a determined beast of burden. Every step was a slight pounce, faster just walking, but not exactly fast enough to get away from the mirror-types, not when they could fly.

I pulled Shadow against my chest with my smaller right arm, covering her with the shield. Meanwhile, I used my left to sling mud and stones up at the monsters every chance I got. At first, they just weaved through the attacks, but after a few minutes of failing to harm me through the barrage, they switched over, losing the darkness and gaining obsidian-like traits.

Thank God monsters weren’t that bright, otherwise they’d know better than to try to get physical.

Hearing more monsters hot on our heels, I knew I didn’t have enough time, I’d need a while to just kill one parroteer, let alone the flock. So instead, my strategy relied on slapping them around into the mud whenever they dove for me, looking for some way to damage their wings while hurrying forward as hard as I could. We had to put some distance before some higher-class monster caught our presence.

Then, I found it.

A stream of water and shallow mud that, barely a foot deep or so, one of a dozen other streams that began far up into the mountain and rolled down, pooling together. And it was our way out of here.

I immediately tossed Shadow from my right and into the tighter embrace of my large left arm, ignoring how the meguca became tense. Instead, I fumbled with the shield, positioning myself on top and giving it a use I’m sure hadn’t been originally intended: as a sled.

As soon as we began to slip down the hill, pushed onward by the stream, Shadow let out a small noise of shock, winding herself tighter. This time the meguca struggled against my arm, trying to find some vantage point so she could get a better vantage of what was going on. I was far too focused on holding on to the shield with my right hand as we continued to accelerate, faster and faster.

In the darkness I couldn’t see more than a few meters ahead, and at the increasing speed we were moving, that was not enough time to react. Worse, the stream was deepening as more joined into it, nudging our speed faster and faster. Every bump and swerve made my insides churn with pain and anxiety, but my adrenaline was pumping too hard for me to notice the injuries.

“Right!” Shadow screeched from behind the cover of my arm.

In a jolt of inspiration I slammed my spiky tail against the mud behind me, using it as a clumsy rudder. The attempt threw us into a spin, whatever we were meant to avoid missed us, but any attempt at control was beyond me as I fought to get the tail to aim us forward again. The meguca was screaming now, and the earlier glee at having managed to get away from the monsters was turning into dawning horror as the stream threw us into a raging river.

For a split second we were airborne, a tiny waterfall followed by total blindness as I could not see how far down the water was. I roared and screamed at the top of my lungs, we both did.

With a splash we fell into water that was far too deep for me to get out, my own weight and the current pinning us both down and threatening to swallow us whole. I tried to walk through the bottom of the river, but my feet just slid off uselessly.

More out of instinct and exhaustion than thought, I released the transformation, the water turning into a bubbling storm around us as I let go of the shield, keeping my focus on holding Shadow close to me as I tried to swim to the surface. The waters had become an out-of-control torrent, the darkness left me entirely blind, unable to determine up from down as we spun as if caught in a centrifuge.

Then the world vanished.

It was barely a fraction of a second, I could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing.

The next moment I was back, coughing out water, hearing the meguca doing the same just within hand’s reach.

“Oh, thank-” My words died in my throat as I heard her gasp and topple over, unconscious.

My momentary concern froze when I noticed she’d been holding on to an obsidian dagger… no, not a dagger, one of the blades that had fallen off of my back. When had she grabbed that? I hastily pried it off of her fingers.

Shadow of a Doubt (1): Survive 7 minutes

“Yeah… yeah.” I groaned at the system, pulling myself up to my feet. My insides were a mess, and my outsides felt like they’d been tenderized all the way to the moon and back. I shuddered at the thought of the condition I’d be in if the damage wasn’t reduced somewhere in the transformation.

I stared down at Shadow.

It was too dark, raining, muddy, and I was naked. My change of clothes were lost somewhere out there, and we were still in the badlands, so monsters were afoot. The only isle of safety I could think of was the production tower, and I didn’t even know where that was other than “somewhere ahead”. Maybe it was an hour away on foot, or five hours, or right around the corner.

I waited, however, until the timer ran out.

Shadow of a Doubt (1) SUCCESS!:

Survive 7 days. Rewards:

New Passive Skill: Night Vision [D]

New Active Skill: Slip (Cost: 15 AP) [D] Speed:Speed: 6 -> 8 [(+)]

I blinked away a sudden itchiness, the world around me broadening as the inky blackness turned into a panoramic grayscale. Everything too far away from the light lost its color, but as I searched, I felt a pit in my stomach, not recognizing anything, not even spotting the production tower. Worse, my stomach had begun rumbling, a gnawing hunger reaching out and reminding me of the consequences of a transformation, particularly one that had been going for almost a whole day.

With a grunt, I pulled Shadow into a fireman's carry and began to walk, keeping the mountain to my right, the only hope of directions I could have.

I meandered, my brain stuck in a swarm of thoughts as I kept noticing flashes of movement off in the distance. Monsters here and there, and things flying above the clouds. All the while my stomach growled and snarled, the hunger intensifying.

I’d started imagining whether I could just eat dirt or not, when I saw a distant green blinking light. One that was approaching, accompanied by the familiar buzz of a drone. Eyes narrowing, I briefly considered running away or hiding, but I knew neither would do me any good in my current condition. So I just kept walking, eyeing it as it got closer.

The moment the device was almost within arm’s reach, the speaker crackled into life.

“The production tower is this way.”

I didn’t move, recognizing that voice. “Moreau.” I growled.