Sound faded in as Cole’s vision expanded beyond the narrow tunnel his vision had created between him and the Drake. First it was the continued sounds of battle. The fight for Venture still raged on, and the wave of red Infernal creatures that encircled the village was squeezing tighter and tighter. It seemed that not all of the teams on defence had been as successful as theirs.

Next came the cheering. His fellow melee fighters gave whooping shouts and hollers, half in sheer relief that the enemy had been defeated, and half in awe by the feat that Cole pulled off. While the [Ronin]’s contribution couldn’t be ignored, it didn’t have quite the same visual oomph that Cole’s Hallowed Spear did.

‘Hallowed Spear, huh’ mused the young man. ‘Not a bad name for it.’

He turned and began walking back to the palisade, and then froze with realisation.

‘Loot’

Life in a fantasy world hadn’t managed to destroy his inner loot goblin. Neurons started firing as Cole raced back to the corpse of the Infernal Drake. An enemy such as that was almost certain to drop some sort of item. Even if it wasn’t useful to him, he’d still be able to sell it for lots of money. If they weren’t all killed before they could close the Gate that was.

He inspected the damage as he came side by side with the enormous headless body of the fallen beast. Its entire head was gone, with its neck ending in a charred blackened stump. The [Ronin] stood to the side, panting softly, silver glow completely gone. His valiant efforts to slow the Drake down had obviously taken a lot out of him. His long jet-black hair was half falling out of its tight bun, flyaway strands framing his salt and pepper beard, which covered his aged face. The Shoi Cal man gave him a quick, cursory nod before walking away, limping back towards the palisade.

The sheer scale of the Infernal Drake could only now be properly comprehended, now that it was still and he was standing directly beside it. If it had been on Earth, Cole was one hundred percent sure it would have been the biggest land animal, by a huge margin. Each scale was bigger than his hand, which he confirmed by splaying his fingers out, reaching out to touch one of them. His palm made contact with the corpse.

Then the world turned red.

There was only pain. There had only ever had been pain. The young man forgot who he was. He forgot where he was. All he knew was the red light, and the pain. He could feel his skin being scorched off his body, muscle rendered from bones that were being charred black.

The red light was all he could see, a symbol that dripped with malice and hate, but the young man could see a small mote of gold beginning to spark. The spark became a flicker, the flicker became a flame, and before he knew it, the gold had shot through the red light, feeding off the energy. The red symbol was changed, melded, and Cole could do nothing as he watched the Infernal rune become something else.

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When the process was done, he was left with a golden symbol, shot through with hints of Infernal red. He knew what the rune meant, alien as it was.

Hallowed Scale.

It was a new Rune.

Cole’s eyes flickered open, having squeezed them shut against the pain. He hadn’t even realised that they’d even been shut. He noticed one thing straight away. Rather, he noticed the absence of one thing. A very big thing. The Infernal Drake’s corpse was gone. His hand, the one that had been pressed into the scales, was held up in the air, touching nothing. Faint golden light was streaming off it, fading away into nothing as he watched.

‘What the hell did I just do?’

When he turned around, he realised that whatever had happened had been almost instant. The [Ronin] was still only a short distance away, completely unaware as he trudged back towards Venture. Cole moved to follow him, staring at the hand that had touched the monster’s body. A million questions raced through his mind, each fighting for an answer that he had no chance of producing in the moment. What the hell had just happened? What did his new rune do? Why had that happened now, and not when he’d killed other creatures?

He pushed the questions aside. It wasn’t important now, what mattered was ending the Surge. Saving the village. Instead of leaping on to the palisade, he entered through the gate, kept open for him after the [Ronin] went through. The young [Knight] who held it open, the same one who had carried his fallen ally back to the village, stared at him with an expression of awe. Cole looked away, uncomfortable with the attention. He needed to talk to Thesta.

The grey-haired woman was where he’d last seen her, resting on the top of the defensive fortification. She still looked awful, although better than when he’d left her. She eyed him as he came up the wooden steps. He could tell what she wanted to ask, but they both knew there was no time.

“You can close the Gate?” she asked, no longer struggling to gasp out words.

Cole nodded. “You’ve seen how strong I am against the Infernal creatures,” he said, gesturing to the battlefield. He realised there was now nothing to look at, making his example a tad less effective when he’d seemingly completely absorbed the monster. He continued regardless.

“If I can reach the Gate, I thi- I know I can close it with my magic. You won’t have to bow to the Emperor!” he clenched his fist, filled with confidence. He wasn’t sure how much of it was misguided, but they couldn’t afford any second-guessing.

Thesta’s blue eyes stared at him for a moment, a tight expression on her face. She nodded.

“Fine. I suppose there’s no harm in trying.” She rose to her feet, summoning up some of her customary strength. “But you won’t be able to make it to the Gate on your own. Follow me.”

Cole obliged, following the woman down the stairs. He worried for the adventurers they were leaving behind. Hopefully they would be able to manage anything that came through on their section in their absence. He chided himself, they were all capable adventurers in their own right. With the help of the [Ronin], who had joined the rest of them on the palisade, they would be fine.

He followed the grey-haired woman through the eerily deserted streets of the town, quickly realising they were heading towards the Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters. The building was nowhere near as empty as the streets, many different groups of adventurers and auxiliary class users could be seen in intense conversation. Thesta made her way straight to the desk, where Lyndell could be seen talking with what looked like some sort of healer. As the Steward finished up with the woman, he turned to regard the pair. For the first time since Cole had met him, he looked tired. Far less than he should have, but still, it was a clear indicator of the stress everyone was under.

“What gives me the pleasure of seeing you two on this fine day?” he asked, cracking a strained smile.

“Cole here believes he has the ability to close the Gate. I need to source a Strike Force to get him there in one piece.”

Lyndell looked the young man up and down with a shocked expression. His professional nature quickly took over however. “Of course. Of course. Please let me check the list of available Strike Forces.”

His eyes glowed blue for a short second. Then he opened his mouth.

“We have a team that was due to head out soon. They’ll be the best rested” he said.

Lyndell turned to Cole.

“Are you familiar with Strike Force Talos?”