And falling fast. Because somehow, the bird practically folded itself, kicked her in the goddamn JAW, and shook itself forward along with her! It… dislodged her! It tore a chunk of its own flesh out with her, but that didn’t register as damage on our part apparently. But more importantly, JASPER IS FALLING TO HER DEATH!
Or at least her plausible death-WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! Think, think, what can I do right now to keep her alive!? I don’t have any kind of damage nullification or any sort of ability that could recall her before the three seconds are up… will she just not hit the ground fast enough? No, she got launched with momentum, fuck, fuck, fuck!
Tick…
There’s no possible way I could get there fast enough to catch her, I’m not fast enough to reach that and it’s not like I can just… teleport… myself… JERRY!
What can Jerry do? We haven’t talked, but… but… god dammit Jerry can’t do anything! Even if he could I’d have to communicate that in under a second, teleport him into place and, fuck don’t have the time!
Tock…
Jasper, Jasper, Jasper, Jasper, Jasper-TELEPORTATION! THAT’S RIGHT!
“[Hunter’s Pursuit]! USE [Hunter’s Pursuit]! SPAM IT!”
Without even responding, I can feel her react to the command, instantly casting [Hunter’s Pursuit] straight up four times in a row, gaining herself an extra twenty meters of distance before she hits the ground. The skill didn’t cancel her momentum, but that’s enough. That’s absolutely enough!
[RECALL]!
About another ten meters before she hits the ground, the mandatory three second period before I can [Recall] my summons passes, and Jasper harmlessly pops out of existence. The world speeds up before my eyes once more, the panicking bird off in the distance falling to the ground, my hand racing to my chest, grasping at my beating heart beneath my equipment.
HhhhhhhhhhhhhhAaaaaaaaaaahhHHHH, fucking hell… Oh my god.
That… would have been… the stupidest way to lose something… ever. LITERALLY, EVER! No, no, not stupid… I took a gamble, it was a risk I was willing to take, I just… didn’t have the information I do now. That the bird could make a statistically impossible attack with its body and cause a near fatal situation.
Well… well, shit, she’s alive isn’t she?
“Jasper, are you… alright?”
“Mhhh… mmmhmm.”
Shaky… but she’s perfectly alive, took minimal damage as well, she’ll be ready to summon in another forty or so seconds.
“STOP THE WAGON! THE BIRD IS HERE!”
Not the most elegant way of putting it, but… For now… I’ve got a bone to pick.
—
I don’t believe my prior observations did the thing justice to be frank. So allow me to reiterate; it is utterly gargantuan. So massive that I’m, frankly, baffled when I see its level.
Morrigala Adept-LVL 12
…And also its class, given “adept” is strictly a magical title as far as I’m concerned, but… I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know why, but I expected… at least level twenty? It seemed apt given the thing is about two stories tall, give or take.
I’m kind of surprised it’s still on the ground as well. I know Jasper did… what… a hundred fifty something damage? But she didn’t exactly damage its wings in any way. She just… hit it really hard. Well, either way, I’m not exactly keen to ask it why myself. In fact, given it’s been about… fifteen seconds since it fell I’d say? It’s about time to deal some extra damage before the thing takes off, given it seems damage somehow prevents it from doing so!
My boots pitter-patter-ing against the ground, I close the distance between myself and the mob as fast as I can manage, given I’m currently holding stealth in precisely zero regard, it notices me basically immediately once I break away from the rest of the crowd and approach it in proper.
And immediately after that, even through the dark of night, I can tell when its eyes lock onto me. A lump forms in the back of my throat as its crushing gaze lingers on me, but regardless my legs don’t stop moving. I ain’t getting stopped by anything less than a direct stun, thank you very much. I’m no WUSS!!!
The humongous beast rises from its priorly curled up position, and at this point I think I’m starting to run out of descriptors for how… just large this thing is. IN FACT, I’d say up this close, it now looks even bigger than before. Like… I’m literally looking up at a skyscraper??? And that can’t be right, and also why isn’t it attacking me if it’s that large?
…Something’s wrong here. It was big before, but…
I stop in my tracks, my blade falling to my side as my eyes trail up the massive figure, shrouded by night.
Is it some kind of illusion? It was called a Morrigala “Adept”, so magic is sort of implied… but what kind!? Would’ve been just grand if the class was something normal like “Illusion Adept” instead of MORRIGALA! Like, what even is that? An adept can be sort of religious I guess, so maybe some sort of god in this world? Gee, if only I knew if gods existed or not in this game!
And then it moves. And thereafter, I’m quite sure it’s not an illusion. The entire earth trembles as the massive figure adjusts itself, my feet almost being taken out from beneath me as the ground threatens to give way. Its form still seemingly growing larger, its eyes boring into me with apparent malice, a silent threat to leave, or else.
Now… I know I said I’m not a coward… but facing down a figurative mountain without any skills and mildly superhuman abilities… I might be doomed here. However, there’s still one thing I must question. Given it’s clearly aggressive with its prior actions, and also only LEVEL TWELVE. Is this… really its true front? One would’ve thought if it had the ability, it would’ve flattened us by now, no?
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
So… stop pounding out of my chest!
I rap my fist against my chestplate one singular time, rap it hard. So hard in fact, 1! is done.
Self inflicted damage is a thing, huh, neat.
And in doing so, the false paralysis that had slowly been creeping through me is banished for just a moment. If it hasn’t attacked yet, that means it can’t… If it hasn’t attacked yet, that, means, it, CAN’T. So, grit your teeth, and eat, that, bird!
Planting another foot forward, my hands tighten around the handle of my blade, and with one final inhalation, I charge once more, bringing my blade to bear against the heap of flesh before me, like a toothpick to a double triple decker pie.
And so, I strike out…!
19!
And suddenly… the mound vanishes, replaced with… nothing.
54!
And then something flashes, and before I can comprehend what, I’ve been slammed into the dirt with a bang. Not like, a forceful blow, but literally a big BOOM. The night lights up with the flash of an explosion, and turning my body before I crash-back-of-the-head-first into the dirt is about all I can do, bashing my shoulder into the ground-7!-with a sickening crunch.
First thought…Ow. Even with my pain settings on a measly 3.5%, that one actually kind of hurt. Second though, oh shit, that’s a second fireball!
Rolling with the momentum that I’d been tossed into the ground with, I narrowly roll out of the direct path of an incoming (seemingly) magical attack, barely rolling out of the way before it makes contact with the earth, producing yet another deafening BOOM. Even still, I don’t get out of the way unscathed, and instead take another 16! damage as my body gets sent flying away from the force of the blast.
…Alright, hurt (literally) less, but… ouch, that’s, what, half my health gone already?
Twisting mid-air, in a feat of what could only be called god-gamerism, I actually manage to come to a halt STANDING, planting my feet on the ground as I somehow convert my prior momentum into a spiral, allowing myself a more favorable reaction to the third installation to the series.
…Which series you ask? Why, a little thing called death by expeditious fireballing, that series of course!
Diving out of the way, I avoid contact with the third fireball outright this time around, though I do wince at the blast off in the distance. Even from here, it’s loud, obviously not an attack to be trifled with.
Say, how long has it been? Because JESUS CHRIST!-7!-I AM GETTING FARMED OUT HERE! HOW MANY OF THESE CAN THIS THING LAUNCH IN RAPID SUCCESSION??? Was it not a physical attacker? Surely it can’t chunk almost 40 hp from jasper with a single kick and then launch multiple different magical attacks of this caliber from… where exactly? Where did it even go?
Bah, I can worry about that when I’m not at 60 hp getting battered by constant fiREBALLS OH MY GOD!
Any one of these could kill me at this point, so the attack that goes flying overhead is just another reminder of my current mortality. Anyways, that marks five… this isn’t a boss enemy, right? Surely, SURELY it can’t go for a dozen of these in a row without any kind of drawback, there’s gotta be some kind of trick to it, right?
11!
Another shockwave sends me rolling, but I’m quickly back up on my feet again. I’m actually about to die to this, has it been long enough yet?
214/214
And the answer to that question is yes! JASPER! HEEE-EELP, HE-E-EELP, HELP ME! HEEELP, HELP MEEEE! JASPE-12!
Bah!
Okay, wait, I'm ACTUALLY going to die here if I don’t stop taking hits…
33/140
“Jasper, listen up and listen closely, we’re not going to have long to make this work! I’m about to die from built up damage, I need you to buy me at least three seconds to use a potion, find the opponent as quickly as you can and attack them with everything you have!”
[Summon]!
Without a word of reply, Jasper hits the ground and immediately starts sprinting forward, hopefully in the direction of my assailant, though after I summoned her no more fireballs came flying forward, so… don’t mind me…
108/140
140/140
Alrighty then, lovely day ain’t it? How’s Jasper doin?
Squinting over at my monster, things… actually seem to be going fairly well for her? Perhaps the bird already burnt itself out with its attacks?
But… it’s not exactly a one sided beatdown either. Even in the dark, I can at least get an alright view of the fight from here. Jasper’s claws trail through the darkness, gleaming whites chasing after a shadowy figure that blips through the night. Almost as if it were a dance…
Mesmerizing fight aside, that thing is… quite small actually! I’m not sure if it was an illusion, or some kind of transformation skill earlier? But this seems to be its actual true form, maybe? I dunno I could be wrong, but given this is how it’s choosing to fight…
Oh, right, Jasper is kind of putting the literal paws on the thing despite the level difference, but I probably shouldn’t just stand here and watch, huh?
Let’s wrap this up.