While Serilla explained everything that happened up to the moment she was hit with the wave of quicksilver during our battle with Segamura, I rested against the bar. She was going into great detail about every little thing. She even described Chompi’s participation and made it sound like he actually did something. I was feeling too tired to contradict.
My head nodded and I struggled to keep my eyes open. At some point, I almost fell out of my chair, but Morgon caught me.
“Alright lad,” he said. “Off to bed with ya. You can stay in the guest bedroom up on the second floor. I’ll hear the rest tomorrow.”
And with that he led me to the stairs.
The room was nice. It was easily the most comfortable place I had stayed in this world, not that there was much competition. I dropped into bed and pulled out my Pocket Book to review my stats and skills.
----------
I was hiking up the trail, following Serilla.
“Follow me,” she said. Her voice sounded distorted, distant.
“Follow, follow, follow,” said Riffy.
“Riffy?” I asked. “Where are you?”
Serilla’s black hair flowed towards me through the trees. It wrapped around me, coiling. The light reflected off each strand as they slivered, becoming metallic. Her hair grew larger.
Then, I realised it wasn’t hair. Segamura!
Segamura squeezed me. Suffocating me.
He turned to face me with his snaking tendrils and piss-yellow eyes.
“Save me, Katri,” he mocked. “I need you, Katri.”
Katri watched from on high as the vision of Segamura morphed into chains. I was bound, my legs and arms were wrenched apart by smoking chains. Lecter’s hands wrapped around my neck and pulled. He was tearing my head off.
I was choking, bleeding, dying.
Katri was laughing. “Beg,” she said.
“Kneel.” She pouted at me. “Worship.”
She grew old, her golden braid turning white. The beautiful, spoilt face transformed into something ancient and simpering.
Lafarron opened his mouth as he stepped forward to bite me, but it was Katri’s laugh still ringing in my ear as I opened my eyes.
----------
I was in Morgon’s tavern. It was light out. I was safe, but soaking wet with sweat.
My heart was still pounding. Fucking hell!
Basic Rested popped into its usual place and then…
Stat Increase: Necrosis +1.
You have been infected with stage 1 Vampirism.
New Skill Unlocked: Vampiric Bite.
New Perk Unlocked: Thirst.
I opened my Pocket Book and read the descriptions.
Permanent Curse: Vampirism Stage 1.
You are suffering the early stages of Vampirism. Upon death, you will reanimate as Undead. This curse will progress over time.
Thirst.
You now crave blood. Drinking the blood of living mortals provides passive healing. Negative effects will occur if Thirst remains unsated.
I already knew how Vampiric Bite worked, but I definitely needed to review my Skills. I had three Skill Slots, but only two skills selected: Basic Dodge and Surge. Of my available skills, I could choose Vampiric Bite, Basic Blueprint, or Basic Identify. Smokescreen and Dancing Orbs were still on hold, but Dancing Orbs would become available again soon.
I decided to leave the slot empty until I could activate Dancing Orbs, then switch it out again for Vampiric Bite. Basic Identify was useful to have, but with my limited Skill Slots, I needed to prioritise survival, especially if I was going to be fighting Morgon.
I climbed out of bed and headed towards the door. If Serilla is awake, I should ask her about this Vamprism stuff. I glanced at my Hunger sphere and was relieved to see it was still more than a third full. Then, I noticed the teardrop symbol next to it. Huh?
It was a small red teardrop… Oh, that’s not a teardrop. That’s a blood drop. The blood drop was empty. I needed to satiate my Thirst. Oh, joy…
I found Serilla sitting outside the tavern. She looked happy, leaning back in a creaky, wooden rocking chair sipping out of a wooden mug.
“That wouldn’t happen to be blood, would it?” I asked.
Her face fell. “Null, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. You’re already suffering!”
“Hey, it’s not so bad. I just need to find some mortal blood to drink. I unlocked a useful skill and I’m sure there will be positives.”
“None of them are worth it,” she said. “Being under his thumb… it’s the worst thing imaginable.”
“He didn’t seem that bad, honestly. I mean… he’s creepy and gross, but he was right about some things too. Bringing down the system, it’s like he read my mind.”
“But that’s exactly what he did do.” Serilla threw her arms up in frustration. “He heard everything you said while I was dead. He was just telling you what you wanted to hear.”
Oh… shit. I didn’t think of that.
“He has no intention of changing the system. The only change he desires is to see himself at the top. He doesn’t want to help people. He doesn’t want to punish the corrupt. He just wants the corrupt to break the rules in his own favour. He’s the worst of all of them.”
“I know some worse than him,” I said.
“I doubt it.” Serilla sighed. “Anyway, let’s find you something to drink. The first stage of Thirst isn’t so bad, but it soon gets worse. We don’t want to see you blinded by the sunlight.”
“Now that you mention it,” I said, raising my arm to shield against the sun. “It is hurting a little.”
“A drink will sort you out,” she said. “Plus you’ll see there are some… benefits.” She jumped up and stretched into a big yawn. “Welcome to the club, I suppose.”
She secretly likes this, doesn’t she?
“So whose blood am I going to drink?” I asked.
“We’ll catch something small to begin with.”
----------
Serilla and I crept into the woods, staying low in the bushes. The usual birds in the trees were calling out with their morning songs.
“I could probably catch a bird,” I whispered.
“No. A small beast will be better,” said Serilla.
“Like a mammal?” I asked.
“A what?”
I rolled my eyes. “Nevermind. Lead the way.”
A little while later, we spotted rabbits. Well, actually Serilla spotted them. I had been distracted by the sight of her crouching in front of me. She looked at me and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Let’s see how you fare against these mighty foe,” she said.
I crept passed and picked a target for my first hunt, a little rabbit munching on some greenery between the trees several meters away.
On the way here, my temporary Form Quicksilver Buff had elapsed, but my Dancing Orbs hold had ended. So I set it, activated it, and then swapped it out for Vampiric Bite. The shining purple orbs floated pleasantly around my shoulders. They were actually surprisingly easy to ignore and they made me feel a lot safer. Now, that I didn’t have any Form Element abilities, I switched Surge out for Basic Identify.
I considered trying to identify the rabbit, but on one hand, I didn’t want to alert it to my presence and on the other hand, the less I knew about it the better. Not that I’m sentimental or anything, but I don’t wanna know its name before I drink its blood.
If I had RamSlam, I could use that to charge forward and snatch this thing up into my arms, but Basic Dodge would achieve the same thing with Mana instead of Stamina. The problem is it’s going to cost more Mana than I have available to cross that distance. I need to get as close as I can.
I crept forward.
Snap. I stepped on a twig.
The rabbit looked at me and started running.
I chased.
Serilla laughed as I ran around the clearing chasing one rabbit, then another.
“This isn’t funny!” I yelled at her as another rabbit evaded me and ducked into its warren.
“Oh, man. This is brilliant.”
“Don’t forget, this is all your fault,” I reminded her.
“True. I really should give myself a pat on the back.” She laughed even harder.
I grinned.
“Null, your fangs are showing,” she said.
“How come yours don’t?” I asked.
“My Class is Nightmare, remember?” She leaned against a tree, looking smug. “I pretty much avoided all the negatives, like day ache and sun blindness, but I don’t get any of the passive healing either, except at night. At night, I get a bunch of cool buffs, but nothing incredible. The main drawback is my reanimation only happens at night and of course, while Lafarron has no body of his own anymore, he keeps trying to resurrect through me. Bastard.”
“I’ll get to pick a new Class next time I level,” I said. “Maybe, I’ll pick Nightmare.”
“Maybe, baby.” She laughed again as I dived for a rabbit and missed. “Need a hand, mighty hunter?”
“No, I got this.”
“Summon your Berry Berry Vassals, My Lord.”
I hadn’t thought about the Berry Berry King in a while. I wonder if he’s still hunting me. I guess so, since the Berry Berry Hunted buff is still active. I kind of want him to hurry up and find me so that I can prove to Serilla that I wasn’t talking about myself.
“I’m not the Berry Berry King!”
“You Berry Berry deny it!”
“Shut up!” I yelled as I leapt for another rabbit and spammed my Basic Dodge. My fingers grazed the soft fur of its hind and I snatched it up off the ground. “Yes! I caught one!”
“Way to go, baby. Now suck it!”
“Gross! don't say it like that.” I stared at the frightened creature. I could feel its pulse beating beneath my fingers. “Can’t you just summon Chumpi? I’ll feed on him.”
“No way! Chompi is precious.”
Ugh, I should just get this over with. “Sorry, Thumper.”
I bit into its neck. Blood trickled between my teeth.
I was about to activate Vampiric Bite, but then I realised I didn’t need to. The blood drop symbol filled and flashed golden before returning to deep crimson.
I placed the startled rabbit back down and it scampered away.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“Is that little guy going to turn into a vampire now?”
“No, but it may gain something from the experience. You never know. Aren’t you going to look at what you gained?” she asked.
I opened my Pocket Book and checked my Buffs.
Crimson Regeneration.
While your Thirst is full, you gradually regain health and regenerate from all non-lethal injuries.
“Awesome,” I said. “But wait, does this mean I’m weak to different kinds of silver or fire.. Or like radiant damage?”
“No weaker than before you let the bastard bite you,” said Serilla. “That stuff won’t happen until you’re undead. You’re at the sweet-spot between life and undeath for now. Shall we head back? Morgon is probably awake. He’ll want to hear the rest of it.”
“Not quite yet. There are some things I want to try. Some combat stuff. I remember this skill called Basic Parry, do you have it?”
“No,” said Serilla.
“Well, it’s really useful. I want to unlock it. So, I need to practise fighting with you. Do you think you’re up to it?”
Serilla grinned. “Oh, hell yeah.”
“Cool, and I was thinking about maybe… could we become a party? I have this friend, Riffy. I promised to form a party with him and I’m sure he’d be happy for you to join… if you want to, that is?”
“I was wondering when you’d ask. You shouldn’t keep a girl waiting, you know.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I like to create a little suspense. And actually, I want to delay just a little longer. I’m not sure how being in a party might affect training when it comes to combat against eachother. So let’s wait till after we—”
“What?” Serrilla eyebrows shot up over her forehead at the expression on my face. “Null, what is it?”
“I just…”
Evolution complete. Soul Bound & NULL’s Rust Blade have combined.
New Skill Unlocked: Summon Soul Blade.
A searing pain spread across my chest beginning at my heart. I tore my Practitioner’s Robe down to my waist, revealing my bare chest.
“Umm, O.K.” Serilla mumbled. “What’s happening? Oh, fuck what is that?”
A purple brand was burning into my flesh over my ribs, a circle with a symbol in the middle. It looked like the hilt of a dagger, or maybe a short sword. The brand finished forming, flashed, then the pain receded.
“Holy shit,” said Serilla. “Is that what I think it is?”
“I’m not sure,” I gasped.
“Null, is that a Soul Weapon?”
“I…” I gazed into her glowing eyes. She was frightened, but excited. “I think so.”
“Morgon told me about those. They’re rare. His gavel is one. When he found it, it was a graded weapon, but he bonded it to his soul. How did you get one without having a weapon first?”
“I Soul Bound a Skill. You didn't get that Perk option?”
“Wow. No, I didn't! Aren’t you going to summon it?”
“I’m not sure how…” I stared at the circle on my chest. I could barely feel it anymore.
I reached down and placed my hand over it. It was cool to the touch.
Something pressed into my hand. Cold metal pushed against my palm.
I gripped it and pulled.
A hilt slowly rose out of my chest. It was a long, metallic black hilt with a purplish leather woven wrap around the handle. I took it into my palm and it fit snug… perfect.
A small, hexagonal pommel slid out of my chest at the end of the hilt. Next would come the blade itself.
I hesitated. My heart was pounding against my rib cage, perspiration gathered above my lip. My arm trembled slightly with anticipation.
Serilla was breathing heavily and pacing from side to side excitedly.
The hilt was long enough to just about grasp it with both hands, but it was more comfortable to hold it with just one. I inhaled deeply and steadied myself.
Carefully, I drew the blade.
The pain was excruciating. My health plummeted smoothly in time with the extension of the black blade. It was thin and narrow, ending it a sharp tip.
My health dropped almost to zero as the blade exited my chest.
With a gasp, I raised it up to eye level.
“What is it?” Serilla asked.
“It’s a Rondel Dagger. They were used to puncture a Knight’s armour in battle. It is thought that King Richard the Third was knocked from his horse with a blow to the head from a Rondel Dagger.”
“Who? What are you talking about?” asked Serilla. “Richard? What a stupid name.”
Right, I shouldn’t talk about Earth. How do I even know that shit?
“It’s a good dagger,” I said. “But it’s weird. The hilt is longer than it should be.”
“Are you alright?” she asked. “You look bad.”
“It almost killed me.”
“Hang on a moment,” she said.
Serilla crouched and stared at one of the rabbits. It noticed her approaching and looked as thought it was about to flee, but then it froze in place.
Basic Gaze, I recalled. Damn, that skill is nice.
She held the gaze as she crept up to the rabbit, then grabbed it as the skill ended and the rabbit attempted to leap away.
“Here,” she said.
I raised the blade over the rabbit, preparing to strike. Then, reconsidered. My first strike with this blade should be against someone who deserves it. A worthy weapon needs a worthy story. I don’t want to end up with a sword named Rabbit Reaper…
I lowered my blade and bit into the rabbit with Vampiric Bite. My health recovered a fraction, but I soon lost concentration. I still needed to improve my Mind stat, but at least I had enough health to not have to worry about dying from tripping over.
I held the blade up and sniffed it, then tasted it on my tongue. Criteria fulfilled.
Name: Unnamed Soul Blade. Race: Soul Weapon. Class: Rondel Dagger. Lvl 1.
Unique Artefact. Insatiable. Violent. Fractured. Malevolent.
Forged from the soul of NULL, REDACTED.
Wield the tool, sharpen the edge, mar the blade with the blood of my enemies.
Soul manifest, hunger unyielding, reclaim what belongs from the ones who oppose us.
This weapon cannot be upgraded through standard means.
Primary Skill unavailable due to missing prerequisite: Buff Form Rust.
“It’s weird,” I said. “The Basic Identify for this dagger reads more like a living thing than for an item.”
“You should be careful,” said Serilla. “Soul Weapons are dangerous. We should ask Morgon about this.”
“I like it,” I said. “It’s… menacing. No one wants a wimpy dagger. This thing means business.”
“What can it do?” Serilla asked.
“Nothing yet,” I said. “It’s just a normal blade. I need to get my Rusty Longshanks back before I can use its ‘primary ability’.”
“Rusty Longshanks?” Serilla grinned. “Please tell me that’s a person.”
“It’s my old leg armour,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s do some weapons training, then we should pick up some empty bottles from Morgon. I want to go back to the Quicksilver Springs. I have an idea.”
“No way am I going back there, Null,” said Serilla. “And if you want me to train with you, use something other than that dagger. I’m not getting anywhere near that thing.”
“Fine. Let’s find some sticks,” I said while looking around for fallen branches. “Oh, and I want you to try that Basic Gaze skill on me.”
“After I summon Chompi,” said Serilla. “He’ll want to train too. He’s very motivated.”
“I honestly can’t tell whether you’re joking.”
----------
Serilla, Chompi, and I battled with sticks and whips made from vines. We leapt over fallen logs and ambushed one another by jumping out of the tall weeds. We swung from branches and threw mud and stones. Chompi flapped, squawked, and hissed. Occasionally, he also breathed fire.
The little Pygmy Griffon wasn’t actually as useless as I had originally surmised. Serilla used him as a pretty effective shield once he used his turtle shell ability and hid inside it. She didn’t like the parry technique. She said it was too risky. She preferred just raising the turtle shell as a shield and finding cover.
She had a point. I lost count of the number of times I miss-calculated a parry and got hit on the fingers or full in the face, but it was worth it eventually. I had just broken another branch against the turtle shell and was casting about for another weapon, when Serilla caught me in her Basic Gaze and chopped at my head with the leafy vine she was wielding.
Her Basic Gaze technique needed a little refining. She had a tendency to lose focus just as she launched an attack and it was in that brief moment, that I was able to react.
With a scrap of stick barely longer than the width of my hand, I knocked aside her whip and tripped her with a leg sweep.
Stat Increase: Dexterity +1.
If strength is the soldier, timing is the general.
New Skill unlocked: Basic Parry.
“Aha,” I said. “I got it!”
Serilla climbed back to her feet. “Well, go on then. Show me what all the fuss was about.”
“I can’t just show you,” I said. “It’s a Passive Skill.”
“Oh,” said Serilla. “What does it do?”
I read aloud the skill description, ‘Automatically applies Shield Modifier to Protection and Skill Block when an attack is successfully parried.’
“I don’t understand that kind of stuff,” said Serilla.
“Well, I don’t understand it exactly... yet, but it’s important. I need a good shield so I can up my Shield Modifier. That way, if I understand this correctly, I will be able to parry skills as well as mundane attacks.”
“What kind of skills?”
“That remains to be seen,” I said. “But who knows, maybe even non-physical ones.”
“That does sound useful,” said Serilla.
Chompi poked his head out of his turtle shell to see why the fighting had stopped.
“But not as useful as Chompi.” Serilla patted his fluffy head.
“Right,” I said. “I’m going to go see a dwarf about a duel… and maybe see if he wants to sell me some empty bottles and a blank scroll.”
“Morgon doesn’t have scrolls,” said Serilla. “And if he did, he wouldn’t sell them to you. We would need to head into the city or one of the towns or villages.”
“How long would that take?” I asked.
“Longer than it’s worth. You should finish up your business with Morgon first. Whatever that business is.” She sighed. “I don’t get why he’s being so… weird about this duel thing. Both of you are acting like complete idiots.”
“You wouldn’t get it,” I said.
“Don’t tell me it’s a guy thing,” she said. “I hate that stupid attitude.”
“Fine. I won’t tell you that.” I shut my mouth and started walking back to Morgon’s Tavern.
“Ugh,” said Serilla as she played with Chompi’s ears. “You’re not like them are you, cutie? No, you’re a good boy. Yes, you are. Yes, you’re a cutie-patootie.”
Chompi meowed and clucked.
“How do you get a familiar anyway?” I called back to her.
“Wait up. I’ll explain it.” She jogged up beside me. “So it’s related to the Charisma stat, you know about that right?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Well,” she said. “It wouldn’t hurt to work on it a little. Anyway, you get a skill called Basic Pact. Hang on. Let me…" She read it aloud in a weirdly deep voice. “Activate while touching a willing Mundane Creature, Magic Creature, or Beastial Monster to forge a summon pact. Target must be half your current level or lower.”
“Was that an impression of me?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s what you sound like when you read a skill.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“I’m Null,” said Serilla, frowning in the dumbest way she could. “I read skills like I’m constipated.”
“At least I make an effort to try to understand these things, rather just blunder through and hope other people will sell their souls to save my fuck ups,” I snapped.
Her expression went flat and she turned away.
Ah, shit. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
She marched ahead without looking back.
“Serilla, come back. I’m sorry.”
Chompi strutted past, scolding me with a contemptuous cluck.
I quietly hissed at him and he flapped away in a hurry.
I need to pick my words a little more carefully. She’s right. My Charisma sucks. Hopefully trading with Morgon will help me raise it a little.
----------
Stat Increase: Charisma +1.
You traded in Gold.
Called it. That was actually really simple. I hadn’t had my head or legged torn off. I hadn’t been imprisoned and put on trial before some silly tribunal of lunatics. All I had to do was ask to buy something, haggle on the pricing a little, and then pay with gold, which dropped out of my Pocket Book. Morgon had needed to show me how to do that last part because Serilla was still sulking by the window. But other than the small amount of guilt I felt for lashing out at her, I was in a pretty good mood.
Admittedly, I had spent all of the gold I gained when I chose my class and I no longer had a means of making more because I didn’t have the perk, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
And these empty bottles are going to be worth it.
I walked to the door and stopped to look back at Serilla. “It’s probably safer for you to stay here anyway. I’m just going up to the springs to fill these bottles. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back soon... Sorry.”
She squinted at me. “I’ll try not to blunder and fuck up anyone else’s soul while you’re gone.”
Morgon pointedly ignored our discussion.
The group of dwarves sitting at the table near the far end of the bar did not. They were all smiles and dramatic sighs. One even raised his hand to his forehead and pretended to faint.
Serilla’s cheeks turned red and she glared at me like it was my fault.
I walked away. I’ve got too much shit to deal with to let this drama slow me down. There are people in Pentamorel who should not be drawing breath just waiting for retribution. It’s rude of me to leave them idle.
The hike up to the Quicksilver Springs took over an hour. I spent a fair amount of the time practice swinging my new dagger and getting a hang of the balance. The size of the handle still seemed unnatural to me, but the blade itself was fucking interesting. It was a deep roiling blackness that remained in some form of motion even when I held it perfectly still. There was definitely an energy to it, but I didn’t recognise it as my own soul. Not that I know my soul. I’m still no closer to knowing who I am than when I woke up in AIAI’s Instantiation Zone for the first time.
Then, I arrived at the Quicksilver Springs and witnessed the pandemonium.
By killing the boss, I had clearly created a power vacuum.
“Nature abhors a vacuum,” I quoted, mindful not to sound ‘constipated’ as Serilla had put it. “Aristotle would be all over this place.”
Sengamura’s rotting corpse was being salvaged for scraps by an armada of creepy crawlies and flappy wappies. The buzzing was pretty intense. Dragon-flies, toads, and reptiles feasted on the insects, while birds of prey and winged beasts swooped down on those in a hypnotic whirl. Pygmy griffons, club-tailed badgers, and metal-pronged stags fought it out between the pools. Inside the liquid, monstrous fish and serpents clashed. And through it all, a brazen horned-toad strolled on two legs, tongue punting obstacles from his path, and swallowing anything that flew within a few feet of him. My guess is that guy becomes the next boss.
I watched the scene play out for a few minutes, then decided this would probably be a good time to practice my stealth. I had 5 points in Dexterity —It’s embarrassing to admit, that 5 is my second highest stat— so I would likely be able to hide from some things. Not that I would struggle much against most of these things, but I would rather not get bitten by a poison butt-fly or something of the like just because I couldn’t be bothered to stealth while collecting quicksilver juice… I’ll think of a better name for it later, if it doesn’t have one when I identify it.
I crept to the nearest pool with my Practitioner’s Robe bunched up like a hood and scooped the oily liquid into the first bottle. I got some on my hands and it reapplied the temporary buff.
Buff: Form Quicksilver. Duration: 23:59:59.
Enables the Create Element: Quicksilver ability.
I was still holding my Soul Blade in one hand because Morgon hadn’t had a sheath I could buy. The moment I attained the buff, the blade started... menacing. It’s kind of hard to describe. The strange moving texture of the black blade, the swirling darkness, seemed to swirl a little faster, but also in a more jagged way. It was like the edge of the blade had become serrated, but when I looked closely there was no change. The edge was still smooth and sharp. Nevertheless, there was a jaggedness about it. It was like I sensed it rather than saw it.
Interesting… what do you want?
I held the blade parallel over the bubbling pool and it thrummed.
“Alright,” I whispered. “But let me finish filling these bottles before you do whatever you’re gonna do. I don’t want to fuck this up.”
I filled the remaining bottles and then, with sweat beading down my face, I dipped the blade into the pool.
Nothing happened.
I dunked it up to the pommel.
Nothing.
It didn’t glow. It didn’t show any signs of growing. It didn’t sing like a chorus, or chime like a bell, it didn’t even twang, cackle, or boom.
So, I pulled it out.
And the quicksilver pool came with it.
A streak of the liquid was stuck to the blade. No, not stuck, flowing into the blade…
My dagger is devouring the spring.
As I pulled the dagger out, a river had flown up at the end of the blade. it was growing in volume every second. Jets of the quicksilvery, oily, liquid squirted up out of the pools from every direction and splashed all over me in their race towards my blade.
What the fuck is happening?
I blinked warm, oily water out of my eyes and looked around at the hundreds of eyes watching me from around the springs.
“Don’t mind me,” I said. “I’m just testing the acidity.”
They weren’t amused. They were distinctly unamused. For one thing, they probably couldn’t understand my wise-cracking remark since I was speaking Common and most of them looked like they spoke Feral. But I think what really annoyed them was that my blade was stealing their font of power. Yeah, that’s probably what’s angering them.
“I should mention that I was the one who killed Sengamura, so I’m kind of entitled to this stuff,” I muttered as I backed away towards the edge of the clearing.
The jets of liquid were pulled along by my blade. They sprayed at me from every corner, huge torrents of liquid, impossible to miss, soaking everything they passed.
Great stealth, Null. Great fucking stealth…
The big, horned-toad croaked, “Ribbit.”
Everything charged at me.
Shit.
----------