Sweat profusely trailed down her skin as Mikella stood and fought against the giant werewolf.
It wasn't’ even a Dire Wolf, but a bigger version of that–Dire Beaswolf. The difference was that while it looked humanoid as it stood on two legs, it was all beast and no sentient thought. It was easier to think that way as she dodged a clawed strike from the beast, aiming to bisect her entirely.
Her body strained from the effort. She’s been fighting for over thirty minutes, and this was the first time she faced one of the upper tiers of Expert rank.
Still, she kept fighting, relying heavily on her Sword Mastery. While this creature was similar in level with the Boss Monkey, it was anything but. The Boss monkey relied on Strength and Dexterity, but this one was relying on Strength and Endurance, or perhaps Vitality. It was crazy tough, and no matter how often she struck it, it still stood firm–its muscles bulging and acting like furred padded armor. Not even her Sword of Lightning did anything of worth, the muscles acting like conductors to absorb the electricity somehow.
Her Dragon Descent certainly helped with surviving, but she had to avoid using Heavenly Strike to avoid draining her resources too much.
The beast relied mostly on its claws, and somehow that was becoming an issue. They were fast, sharp, and strong–she knew that because a single mistake caused it to slice off a good chunk of her left forearm.
It bled profusely, and it stung like a bitch. She swore a warm breeze was tickling her exposed bones. Meditation was working like mad, but it wasn’t enough to keep her arm in top shape. She was at least thankful that she had a decent amount of Endurance and Vitality, otherwise she would’ve lost her entire arm rather than a bit of it.
She had to keep herself steady. It’s been a while since she felt the ‘madness’, but she felt that if she kept forcing herself to survive, the faster she'd descend back into it.
She stepped forward, using her body’s momentum to step right in. When the wolf went with a fast downward claw, she stepped right out. Taking the chance, she stabbed the wolf with her sword.
The wolf was too busy recovering to avoid it, getting stabbed right at its abdomen, but refused to budge as it charged forward with the blade still impaled within its packed muscles. But Mikella smirked at that.
She pulled. She dragged the giant wolf around, using her blade to spin the giant creature around and around. Despite its size and hefty weight, it was nothing towards Mikella’s high Strength stat. She made perfect use of it as she spun the thing around, then finally slammed the creature down. The ground beneath shattered and cracks spread all over, but the beast wasn’t killed yet.
Distracted, the wolf tried to recover, but Mikella hefted her blade out with quite an effort, causing the wolf to cry out in pain before finally finishing it off with a swift stab between its eyes. No matter how tough or how healthy a creature can be–nothing can survive a true stab into the brain.
Well, some probably could in this fantasy world, but this damn wolf sure can’t as it died immediately. Its limbs fumbled before the body turned limp underneath her.
Mikella let out a breath before pulling the sword out, blood showering the ground. She spun it to get rid of the blood from the blade to stave off rust.
The enchanted sword was incredible. It would have taken her longer to kill the wolf even with the skills if she didn’t have this sword. The light weight and increased durability made it easy to maneuver, and more importantly, deliver a heavy momentum at a critical moment. While the Sword of Lightning didn’t do much, the electricity certainly distracted it long enough for her to consider just having it out along with her enchanted sword–but somehow, duel wielding those swords felt a bit off.
She wasn’t against the idea if she was honest (it would be cool as fuck), but her Sword Mastery didn’t seem to allow her to do that as well as it would with a singular sword. She had a feeling that she could force it into accepting her dual swords, and most likely she could evolve her skill to accept dual-wielding. But she didn’t want that–not now, at least.
Before she could turn around and do some more killing, she heard a shout and felt something push her with all their might.
“Watch out!”
The push caused her to stumble and fall down, getting her scraped. She looked back, ready to kill Piker who turned out to be responsible for pushing her.
But her anger quickly abated when his armored arm was stabbed with what looked like a stretchy tongue. The tongue receded, and Piker’s arm suddenly lost all energy as it slumped against his torso, losing any will to do anything.
“Piker!” Myra came over, getting Mikella up from the ground while showing a concerned look. “Shit, your arm!”
“There’s a Paralyzer here!” Pyker managed, still able to hold onto his bastard sword with a single hand. “Retreat and pull back! I’ll take care of this.”
“A Paralyzer?” Mikella asked as Myra did as Piker said, grabbing her away.
“We got no resistance against that,” Myra explained. “It attacks you with a sneak attack, paralyzing your body with a status ailment. If you get it in the middle of all this, you’re screwed!”
Myra shouted at the other soldiers who could listen, getting everyone the message. Then, they scattered about, ignoring the bigger creatures and instead using them as cover to apparently find this Paralyzer.
Myra then told Mikella to do the same, looking for any small creatures that use their size to their advantage as they’re likely the targets. Mikella turned over to Pyker as despite losing an arm, he still fought savagely against the horde of monsters, using the powers of frost to freeze them all and destroy them outright.
Figuring there was no choice, she scoured the scene. It was a mess of monsters, but their fighting managed to tear down the numbers a bit, fortunately. That’s where she spotted a small creature she knew would be a Paralyzer.
“There!” Mikella shouted, getting Myra to notice her finger pointing. “It’s a Bug-Eater! It has some… weird tongue thing sticking out of its mouth!”
Just like the name, Mikella couldn't help but realize it was similar to an Ant-eater, though it was black in fur with faint yellow spots covering it. Its tongue, small and slithering like a worm, lashed furiously around it, looking for its next victim.
She shivered at the sight, and despite how Piker was treating them, he ended up pushing her aside to take the blow himself. She hated to admit it, but she had to thank him. If that were to take her body instead of an arm, or worse, her head… she couldn’t imagine the horror that would come after.
And just as quickly she pointed it out, the creature was lashing its tongue out, not even caring about hitting some of its comrades. Some wolf and some bear were hit with the tongue, causing themselves to get frozen up like the others said. They were quickly frozen and fell to the ground, only to get nearly obliterated by the other creatures stomping about and crushing them underfoot.
Then that same tongue that indiscriminately killed its own comrades was now aiming for Myra by her side. Her eyes widened as the tongue was heading straight to her.
Mikella didn’t even think about it. She pulled a spear out of her pack and hefted it like an olympic thrower, pouring her kinetic energy to it. Her Spear Mastery skill made it easier to pour in kinetic energy into the weapon as she threw it with no mercy in her eyes.
The spear was thrown with such ferocity that the air itself split apart from its way. The flight path destroyed at least a whole array of weaker monsters, their bodies splitting just by being near the attack. The spear closed in towards the little creature, just barely noticing before it was decimated and taken to the ground. Its tongue was just frozen right in midair before it eventually fell to the ground limply like its owner.
A notification came by to tell her what a good job she did as she grinned.
> Spear Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
The other monsters, however, decided to gather around the creature, as if realizing they lost their advantage. Mikella let out a breath as she noticed that not only Myra came over, but Piker as well. His limp arm was finally returning to normal as he tried to grip it every once in a while during this lull.
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“Nice shot,” Piker commented, surprising Mikella.
“Umm, thanks,” Mikella said. She was just too baffled by the sudden praise that she didn’t know what else to say.
“Hey, look at that, you can act like a decent human being after all,” Myra smirked, then turned to Mikella after witnessing Piker scoff at her. “That really was a good shot. Had you been practicing?”
“A bit,” Mikella agreed as she got her sword back out. “I had to do something while I was suspended. Picking up Spear Mastery was definitely worth it.”
“You got a Spear Mastery skill?” Piker said in surprise. Now that she realized it, Piker figured her to only be a sword user like one of their men. “Why pick up another mastery skill?”
“I was bored,” Mikella answered honestly. “Plus, I got a lot of weapons from, uhh… ” Mikella tried to answer, figuring that mentioning the tower might be complicated, but Myra stepped in time.
“Her parents were strict, but they were loaded before she left,” Myra pointed at her with a thumb. “That’s how she got some pretty decent Acquired skills.”
Piker stared at the women for a moment before turning to Mikella. “Keep doing that to those Paralyzers and you won’t hear another complaint from me.”
Piker then hefted his bastard sword over, gripping its handle with both hands while aiming at the dozens of monsters heading their way.
“There could be more on the way. Keep a lookout!”
“Got it!”
The two women responded in unison as Myra, Piker, and finally Mikella prepped their weapons at the enemy and lunged at them.
They still got quite a few more enemies to kill.
…..
Zeke’s throat tightened, his breath was haggard. The first time he saw someone die, and he couldn't even do anything, let alone make the suffering go away. He suffered while being eaten alive by the monsters surrounding him.
The axeman didn’t stand a chance. But despite his death, the other soldiers kept going. Because they kept going, ignoring the fleshy remains of their former comrade, Zeke knew what he had to do.
This was a battle to the death. It’s obvious that this would happen. Even if his mind was rattled from such a gruesome death, it shouldn’t stop him from helping others still alive.
I need to focus.
Zeke muttered, forcing himself to look up at the scene surrounding him.
He channeled his focus, using Mana Perception to feel his barrier out. With the dome surrounding him, he managed to get a ‘feel’ of sorts around him. His Barrier Craft Skill was still holding up strong, and he could somehow tell that his Steadfast Mind was also working as it should to keep him mentally steady.
He breathed, using the chance to enter into Meditation to recover his mana. He lost a lot of mana from his failed protections, but that didn’t mean the battle was over. But just as he was about to get himself out there–
A red-colored light covered the area. He could feel it–a powerful sense of mana surging from some source beyond the horizon. It made his very being want to curl up to hide from it. It was attacking his Mana Perception in ways he couldn't comprehend, and his barrier seemed to scream at him that danger was approaching.
Before he could turn to Cloud, mostly out of survival instinct than by actual thought, Cloud responded first.
“Everyone! Get inside!” He shouted, turning to Zeke. “Open the dome from above, now!”
Zeke did just that. By opening the way out from above like before, Cloud lifted his hand and casted a ball of bright starlight right out of it. It wasn’t meant to attack, and it was barely any cost for Cloud.
It was meant to be nothing more than a flare for the others outside the dome.
…..
She didn’t know why, but Mikella could feel that something was wrong. Her body was tingling in ways she can’t really describe. She felt that something was about to happen, like the air was turning… hot, rather than coppery from all the blood she was forced to get used to. She shivered as she shook her head, trying to push off the weird feelings.
However, Myra and Piker responded better.
“Is this… mana?” Myra asked, swiveling her head around.
“Something powerful is coming… I just–” Piker muttered, turning around himself before widening his eyes. “It’s Lord Cloud’s spell! We need to hurry inside!”
Mikella turned around to find exactly what Piker said. She just saw the ball of bright light launching out of the dome, the opening fully open. Despite the flying creatures somewhat killed thanks to the nearby soldier’s help, that would still be dangerous to do for the people inside.
Unless somehow the outside is about to be even more dangerous. Thinking that, Mikella followed Piker and Myra’s hurried footsteps to the dome, jumping straight to the top of the dome to head inside. Mikella did the same, finding the feat that normal humans on earth could barely do even with years of combat experience.
She hurled herself into the dome, realizing the air around her was becoming blisteringly hot after each second. As soon as she entered the cooler yet still humid dome, the sensation of security and protection overwhelming her again, the dome closed up behind her.
And a sea of torrential fire flowed into view.
Everything around them was doused in flames. Not a single creature survived the wave, their bodies burning up and reduced to ash. Even inside the barrier, the air felt similar to a stove on full heat. Her eyes were nearly blinded, but she managed to find the only person she thought of when entering inside.
And he sank to his knees, his hands stretched with his face paling.
“Zeke!”
…..
Zeke could barely withstand the blast. He knew something was amiss, and that something was a spell taking hold. And that spell was enough to break the entire dome apart if he hadn’t focused on it.
He only just reinforced the dome as soon as the last soldier came in. The last one being Mikella of all people, he closed the dome and poured half of his entire Mana pool, but even that didn’t feel like it was enough. The blast hitting his barrier was powerful.
It felt like it was attacking his soul. The magic spell that was turning the entire field into a hellscape was attacking his dome in a way he never felt before. He defended against magical attacks before, but this spell was too strong to be considered normal. It was an attack meant to decimate an army, not a group of ragtag soldiers.
But he held, gritting his teeth. He extended his arms up, using his body as a sort of projection for the barrier to hold. He didn’t know why, but it worked splendidly. He moved his body to help his mana churn through his channels, helping his mind focus on defending against the blast.
Getting out of this hot hell alive with his comrades. That was his goal as the flames finally ceased to be. As he slowly rose to his feet, his face pale, he breathed heavily. He sweated profusely, not just from the intense heat, but the difficult effort to not break apart.
The barrier held true. To his shock and awe, it fucking held. The barrier was like broken glass, the cracks spider webbing across the surface of the turquoise shell with some bits and pieces falling off like scattered roof tiles–but it held.
He checked his body, wincing as his mana reserves were left almost drained. He also felt a bit drained physically, realizing that he also spent kinetic energy, stamina, to defend themselves.
Without really thinking, he must have enforced his barrier with stamina to stave off the powerful force. Or was it his Gloves of Sanctuary that did that? He figured that the gloves aided in supporting the barrier, but realized that his mana wasn’t enough for this type of attack.
The fact that he had to use his stamina to defend against that attack was shocking, but he turned his attention to his comrades.
“Is everyone alright?!” Zeke shouted, his eyes still blurry from the light that's blinding them all.
Everyone around him shouted in response, as though his word carried law somehow. More than anything, Mikella ran over, her face the only thing he could see clearly.
“What about you?” Mikella asked. “You’re the one that looked the worst!”
“I’m fine,” Zeke consoled. “I’m still breathing, and I think my gloves took most of the heavy lifting.”
“That’s good…” Mikella let out a breath before looking over the scene. “What was all that about?”
“Over there!”
One of the soldiers shouted, the duelist, as he pointed at something from within the dome. The two stared, the light around them finally dissipating.
The scene was terrifying to watch. The trees surrounding them turned to smoking charred stacks, and the ground was blackened by the flames, turning into soot. The air that unfortunately passed through the barrier–which was needed to breathe–tasted smoky with a hint of ember nearly burning their throats.
Zeke coughed as his breathing wasn’t stable, but when he noticed the creature responsible, he coughed some more from the shock.
The thing was huge. Over seven feet tall and over half of that wide, covered in bulging red-skinned muscle. Covered with several hides to cover up its decency, the creature stood on powerful columns for legs, a humanoid creature carrying what looked like a tree trunk for a staff.
When Zeke Identified it, he couldn't believe it.
> Red-maned Giant, Level ??
With his stage, he could view information at any being at Apprentice or above, which would be Expert. If he can’t read the level at his current stage–it would mean only one thing.
“Journeyman Rank…?” Zeke muttered, unable to comprehend what that meant.
“What the hell…?” Jackie muttered, his voice trembling. “Why the hell is there a damn Journeyman monster in the forest?!”
The other soldiers didn’t look like they had the will to fight anymore. Anyone other than Myra, Piker, Mikella, and the leaders looked ready to call it quits right then and there. Looking back at the giant creature, he saw that it was in fact a lot more powerful than its level suggested.
The monsters they mostly faced varied between level 20 to 40, in between Apprentice and Expert rank. Then there were the stronger types, somewhere between level 50 and 60, the late stage Expert ranks. That’s equal to the big boss monkey and the werewolf Mikella fought earlier. Difficult to fight, as their stats were higher than the average human, needing a party to take it down comfortably.
But a Journeyman rank monster was something else. According to the books, monsters that have surpassed Journeyman are the ones where even veteran parties around their level had to be cautious of. They have acquired abilities that could prove dangerous if one doesn’t have their foundations set up properly. It’s no surprise that a Journeyman rank monster could easily destroy a settlement or two in a matter of a week.
Then the general said something that wasn’t quite what anyone wanted to hear.
“Looks like we found the boss responsible for the numbers. Alright, let’s have at it. We don’t intend to get in the way, so all of you should take it down.”