Along a beach of dark sand, Sammy walked. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she and three others were trudging. They’d been moving almost non-stop since yesterday by now. They hadn’t even been allowed a wink of sleep over the night. Not when the giant Crab leading them had initiated that they simply keep moving instead. And with a stain of dried blood still on one of its claws, none of them had dared to protest.
Her feet were basically numb from the constant walking. Each step forward at this point was forced. Long-dried tears were on her cheeks as Sammy’s brain focused on just the willpower to keep moving one foot in front of the other. To her right were the others, while the Crab led from the front.
The early days of the Merging had not been kind to them. Before getting transported here, Sammy had been out at a steakhouse for dinner with her boyfriend. But when the System had taken the two of them away, they’d been plopped here with 28 other people. However, to say that they had originally been part of a group of 30 could be considered inaccurate. Mainly due to what happened within mere moments of being unfrozen by the System.
Despite it being incredibly warm and sunny, Sammy still shivered a bit at the fresh memory. Of how 25 people had quickly fallen to the ground, clutching their stomachs in pain. Out of the three total Healers, two had been the ones to fall victim, including her boyfriend. What came after that had been… painful, to say the least.
The one Healer still standing had done his best to help. The others, like her, had done all they could in terms of at least trying to look around for water and such. But they were ultimately useless and could rely on just a single person with a healing Skill. Of the 25 victims, however, he only managed to save a few and stabilize them.
As for Sammy’s boyfriend and the other Healer? They had each tried to use their own Skills as much as they could. Then when someone discovered the pocket spaces and the starting equipment inside them, the two Healers also used their items until they ran out of energy.
But even with the third Healer’s assistance as well, all it did in the end was draw out their ultimate demise. Whenever Sammy closed her eyes, she could still see the look of pure agony on her boyfriend’s face. Could still hear the moans and crying, that eventually turned into begging between ragged breaths for someone to just put him out of his misery.
Then to make a terrible situation even worse, they were attacked. It was by a single monster that Appraise had called an Earth Elemental Lord. Compared to that Level 19 monstrosity, the small group of Level 1 Humans might as well have been bugs.
If there was one saving grace, it’d been that the monster was slow. Either that, or it’d only been mildly interested in killing them all, but not enough to put in any real effort. Yet even so, the few people who were healed from whatever mystery condition killed so many ended up dying anyway, rendering all that effort for naught. Still suffering from the after-effects, they hadn’t been able to run quite as fast as the others. So in the end, they ended up getting left behind as the rest of them sprinted away, not stopping until the Elemental was far, far out of sight.
After that, they’d just tried to survive as best they could. Though many of them were still shell-shocked by what happened. From those that had been the worst off from whatever had killed from within… it was a reminder that there was a surprising amount of blood inside a person’s body, most of which ended up outside. Sammy in particular had been hit hard, as she still couldn’t fully believe that the man she’d been hoping to marry soon was gone, just like that in such a terrible way.
Then yesterday, they had encountered the Crabs. Or rather, it’d be more accurate to say that the Crabs had found the makeshift camp of the five survivors. The Crabs had offered them the chance to willingly become sacrifices, which they had soundly rejected by trying to flee the greater number of giant creatures. Yet before any of them managed to get away, a terrible headache hit Sammy hard. And then… the rest became a blur.
It was like she became separated from her physical body as it went into autopilot, following actions that didn’t come from her. Instead, her consciousness felt like it ended up sinking into a murky river, only half aware of what was actually happening to her body in the real world. The same thing ended up happening to the other Humans, as their bodies ended up willingly following the Crabs around. They were eventually given the order to follow this one Crab, which they also did while their minds felt locked away and unable to act.
That was until they were a few hours of walking away from the rest of the Crabs. All at once, a sudden moment of clarity hit the five of them. Yet with the one Crab still ordering them to follow, none of them had been brave enough to try. Not when it towered over them with claws that looked like they could easily crush a person to death in their grip. Or at least, until last night.
With the Crab taking the lead and always walking ahead, one of them had tried to sneak away. When Sammy had noticed the man slowly yet steadily straying off to the left, she’d realized what his plan was. She had tried to catch his eye with silent gestures, and then attempted to communicate that he shouldn’t take the risk.
Yet he did it anyway. After steadily getting further and further away without drawing the Crab’s notice, the man suddenly broke off in a run. Despite the distance already made, however, the Crab almost immediately noticed and turned toward him. Then in a furious rage, the Crab rapidly closed the distance with an almost unbelievable level of speed. And when it reached him, it swung at him with just a single claw.
And then… something strange happened. Something that took almost an hour, and ended up becoming the only break they’d gotten so far to actually sit down and have a chance to rest.
The single blow from the Crab had killed the man. Sammy didn’t see exactly how bad it’d been from a distance, even if the bright stars above did a lot to keep the night from being totally dark. Yet she had seen the way he crumpled to the ground, and then never got back up. However, upon realizing its blow had killed him, the Crab began to sob aloud.
It apparently hadn’t meant to kill him. After putting the body inside its own pocket space, the Crab took a full hour to cry forgiveness. Not from the man, but from the Golden Prince. With the desperation in the Crab’s voice, Sammy could only imagine that this being had to be some kind of god they worshipped. From how much the Crab wailed and begged, one would have thought that it’d just been forsaken for committing a grave sin. The words it used in its sobs asking for forgiveness were the kind of religious fervor that sounded like it could only come from a true zealot.
Despite its clear distraction, nobody else ended up trying to use it in an attempt to flee. Not after they saw just how quickly the Crab could move when it wanted to. And from the way it’d ended the man’s life by what it at least kept claiming to be an accident, fighting it wasn’t an option they considered either. If that was an accidentally fatal blow, none of them wanted to even imagine what a strike with the actual intent to kill would look like.
So after the Crab eventually calmed down, they ended up continuing to follow it through the night and morning. At this point, they just didn’t have much of a choice. Even if the Crab was more careful not to kill anyone who ran away, that didn't mean it couldn’t stop them. Sammy could only imagine what alternatives to ensure their compliance that might entail, and chose to just keep walking instead.
While they didn’t know for how long this on-foot journey would continue, she could only hope that it wouldn’t be for much longer. At this rate, just the never-ending walking might kill them before anything else did. As for what the end of this journey would entail? Well, if the Crabs were planning on sacrificing them, then she could only hope it’d be a quick death. With the hole left in her heart and the pained screams of the man she loved still ringing in her ears, that was all she was even willing to hope for at this point.
That was simply her state of mind right now. At the lowest point of her life, just focused on walking because stopping would likely mean getting punished. Where even if they reached their ultimate destination, death was what seemed to await them anyway. Despite knowing that, she just felt too powerless and emotionally empty to do anything other than remain a helpless victim, being pulled by the far stronger currents from the river of fate.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
And then, while still looking down at the ground directly in front of her, a shadow caught her eye.
Sammy looked up. She had to squint her eyes, as the thing casting the shadow was somewhere directly under the sun and thus hard to look at. But between the rough shape of the shadow and what she could see through the squinting, the object itself looked familiar. Something that was unexpectedly modern for the unknown and crazy world they’d be forced into.
Is that a-? Before she could even finish the thought, there was a small flash of light. A single bolt flew down from the object. Sammy blinked as she flinched back, but then quickly realized that this bolt wasn’t aimed at her. Nor was it aimed at any of the other people with her, for that matter.
The bolt shot at the Crab, whose back was still turned away from it, unaware of what was about to happen. The moment it pierced straight through its back, the Crab immediately cried out with pain and spun around.
“Which one of you bloody- wait, what’s that?!” The Crab yelled; its rage only targeted at them for a moment before also noticing the thing flying high above.
The Crab then drew one of its claws back. Held within it was an item that Sammy hadn’t dared to use Appraise on so far, in case the owner somehow noticed. But something that was then activated, as gusts of visible wind formed between its claws in the shape of a bow. The bow itself was oddly designed, forming between and around the shape of the claw.
Yet a bow it definitely was, because when the Crab then used its other claw to pull back the string, an arrow made from wind then formed. However, in the couple of seconds that it took for the Crab to do this, another bolt came flying down. But seemingly more ready for it, the Crab quickly dashed to the side and just barely managed to avoid it.
It then released the arrow, which in Sammy’s eyes, flew at a speed that seemed a bit slower than the bolt. When the flying attack moved to the side to also successfully dodge the projectile, Sammy saw it more clearly. Her thought had been right; it was definitely some kind of drone.
Her eyes widened with disbelief as tears formed. Does that mean… someone’s actually here to save us?
But then, as the Crab dashed closer to the small group of Humans to dodge another bolt, they quickly realized that just standing around would be a bad idea. With Sammy being one of the first to move as quickly as her sore legs allowed, they tried to make some distance between themselves and the sniper battle going on. The Crab didn’t react to them moving away, as it was likely far too focused on the most immediate threat.
Aside from the first sneak attack, neither the Crab nor the drone managed to land a shot. Each one managed to dodge and return fire as a back-and-forth. As the Crab moved around, Sammy eventually noticed the hole that went clean through the center of its entire body. She only hoped that despite the lack of immediately obvious blood loss, the wound would eventually slow the Crab down.
However, the opposite happened instead. Seemingly becoming impatient with how its shots so far had missed, the Crab activated a Skill of some kind. More wind magic was summoned, but instead seemed to contained directly around its entire body as some sort of aura. The moment that aura was fully formed, the Crab’s movements accelerated to the next gear. When another bolt came flying down, the Crab easily dodged it. Then as it returned fire, its claws moved with enough dexterity to send three arrows flying back in the time it’d taken to fire one just before.
The drone managed to avoid two of the arrows, but failed to fully dodge the third. From the ground, Sammy cringed at the noise of metal being scratched. It’d been by just barely, but even a glancing hit was a signal of the momentum that had now just been swung in the Crab’s favor.
The last event was then repeated a few more times. The Crab easily avoided the bolt, before rapidly shooting a set of arrows where at least one would do a bit of damage. But on the fifth exchange since the Crab activated the Skill that’d given it this advantage, one of its arrows finally landed more than just a glancing blow.
It was hard to see where it’d landed at first. But when the drone came falling from the sky, Sammy then saw that the wind arrow was sticking right through one of its propellers. Seeming to believe that this wasn’t enough, the Crab then let loose another three arrows. And with its ability to move away now crippled, all three stuck home right through the main body of the drone. However, instead of crashing into the ground, the drone then just disappeared into thin air.
Sammy looked around for a moment to see if she’d missed its crash while blinking. But when she failed to see any evidence of it landing anywhere, it seemed to well and truly gone.
“Damn it. We should have attacked while that monster was distracted,” A man quietly said from several feet away. Daniel was his name, she believed. Though with how all out of sorts Sammy had been for the last few days, even something as relatively simple as keeping track of a few names was something she didn’t feel confident in.
The Crab then deactivated the Skill it’d been using, dispelling the aura of wind around its body. But then it stumbled in place, which was something they all noticed. Sammy didn’t know if it was because of the wound, or simply an aftereffect of the Skill, but the Crab was definitely off-balance.
Not letting this chance slip by, Daniel then pulled something out from his own pocket space. A spear. Sammy’s eyes widened as she shook her head.
“Don’t do it, you’ll get us all killed!” She quietly begged. Whoever sent the drone had to still be out there. If they just waited, another attack against the Crab would soon come. But didn’t matter if they struck now before more help arrived; that’d just be suicide.
Not heeding her, the shape of the spear changed in Daniel’s hands. Its form shifted into something more like a javelin, which he then held back and prepared to throw. Sammy’s gaze quickly looked between him and the Crab. The latter still wasn’t looking at them as it was apparently remaining on the lookout for another drone or attack in general from the sky.
Sammy then looked at the other two survivors. They were Antonio, the last Healer who did his best to help. And then Kelley, an Enchanter whose Skills were entirely focused on crafting. Not really counting the Healer, the fact that Sammy was a Cryomancer meant that she was the only other one who could really fight if it came down to it. So if Daniel was already going to launch a ranged attack while the Crab was still distracted…
You know what? Fuck it, Sammy thought as she gritted her teeth. If we’re going to die now because he can’t wait, then might as well die fighting.
From her own pocket space, she pulled her own starting item. Apparently not seeing them as actual threats, the Crabs hadn’t even bothered to take their equipment. A fact that made it all the easier for Sammy to channel her grief and hurt, and turn those feelings into anger and spite. Nodding at her, Daniel took aim. At the same time, she raised her staff and began to channel Mana into a Skill.
With their timing now coordinated, both unleashed their attack at the same time. Daniel threw his spear as a reddish aura enveloped the weapon. While Sammy, using her staff as a conduit to empower the Skill, shot out a large and pointed cone of ice. The Crab turned as the attacks flew through the air, with the spear flying much faster and going ahead.
The Crab raised one of its claws to block the javelin. But with just a gesture, Daniel remotely changed its trajectory at the last moment, causing it still pierce into the Crab’s body anyway. The cone of ice then slammed into the claw a moment later, but the larger projectile hit with enough force to yank its claw and crack the exterior.
“You! His majesty offered you the chance for something so great, and this is how you betray his kindness?!” The Crab angrily screamed. “I will rip off your limbs and make your Healer stop the bleeding, if that’s what it takes to deliver you savages alive!”
Blood trickled from both the Crab’s claw and its central body. The javelin was still stuck from where it’d partially managed to pierce through the Crab’s shell. With another gesture from his hand, the javelin began to pull itself out. Yet the Crab just grabbed the weapon, and promptly snapped it in half with its claw.
“Ah, shit!” Daniel exclaimed as his face twisted with panic. Meanwhile, Sammy released another ice attack. This one, however, was seen way ahead of time and, as such, was easily avoided by the Crab.
Sammy swallowed. With that, their fate was already likely sealed. At least she could take pride in the fact that they’d made the monster bleed and cracked its shell. Even when they were dead, it would still remember the pain they’d inflicted today.
Yet even knowing that it was likely futile, she kept her staff ready and channeled another attack. She was feeling pissed. Both at the world for doing this to them, and the Crab that made for an easily justified target for her anger. If the Crab wanted her to stop fighting now, then it actually would have to tear her limbs off and prevent her from channeling more Skills.
But just as she was about to fire at the Crab starting to charge them, Sammy blinked. Because of that, she missed what happened in that split second. The next moment, all the Crab’s movement came to an end as it fell to the ground. And where its head had been just that mere second ago, there was only… a very large hole.
“Hey! Are you guys alright?!" a male voice called out. Sammy's mouth was still slightly open from pure surprise, and she turned toward where the sound of the unfamiliar voice had come from. It was a man waving at them from a few hundred feet away.
At his side was a small tank with twin barrels, which appeared to be glowing red hot.