“Oh, my Crystal!” Jul shouted. “They’re coming from above!”

Nar looked up and found a massive swarm of flying enemies emerging from hundreds of holes across the ceiling.

“What now?” he whispered.

“Archers! Ranged! Above us! Above us! Kill them, kill them all!” Juf shouted.

Projectiles began to fall down on them, exploding in big, bright flames.

The new enemies had long, straight bodies, with thick heads that narrowed into sharp, gleaming tails. Their wings were shimmering blurs in the air, and they filled the battlefield with their buzzing.

In their many legs, under their bodies, they carried several black orbs, red lights pulsating across them.

“Those are explosives!” Juf shouted. “Blow them up in the air!”

Above the absolute mental chaos and noise, the Raid Boss roared and stomped down with its massive legs, shaking the bridge under them. In the distance, Nar heard the screams of the middle parties.

Around them, the press of bodies threatened to separate them, and Nar reached out to grab onto Jul’s wrist.

“Watch out! We’re moving forward!” he told her.

They stuck together and were slowly pushed forward by the thousands of Climbers maneuvering to fulfill Juf’s commands.

Hot breath blew at the back of his neck from an altei, and a sweaty pink Climber stuck to his side. The air was chokingly hot and there wasn’t enough of it for everyone.

“Nar! They’re still coming up the sides!” Jul shouted. “We should help them!”

“Wait! Let everyone stop again! Right now it’s too…”

She looked up, her mouth open with forgotten words she never got to speak. She sensed it before he did, but his attributes and reactions were faster.

“Watch out!” he shouted.

His warning was for the people around them, not for her.

He dragged her down, pushing against those stuck to him, and landed on top of her. On a whim, a last split-second decision, he pulled his aura over them, hoping not to hurt her.

Again, he felt it come out too strong. Just a tad too much. More than he had wanted to, however, he blanked as everything suddenly disappeared under an explosion of roaring light and heat.

He felt it angrily trying to devour through his aura to get to them, but the gray protection covering them held.

As soon as he sensed the danger was gone, he pulled his aura back in and rolled off of Jul.

“Are you okay?”

Jul looked at him with very wide eyes. “I-I… Yes!”

There was space around them now, too much of it. The sounds of the injured hit him like a fist and he beheld the devastation around him.

The flying enemies had done a flying pass over them, dropping their exploding orbs over the left side parties. They had destroyed both Climber and spider alike, but the results were undeniable. The line was broken.

Already more spiders were making their way up the bridge and onto its surface, and the Climbers were too slow in recovering.

Crystal! They’re going to break through!

He dragged himself up and pulled Jul with him. “Are you hurt?”

“N-No! But the line!”

“I know!”

Nar turned back around and watched the enemy come.

“Sides! Reform those lines! Reform the lines! They are trying to break through!” Juf yelled above the battle and the cries of the injured. “Use your skills, use everything you got until those lines are back in place! If they get to middle parties now, everything will be over!”

Around them, Climbers struggled to their feet. Nar reached down and pulled up an altei tank.

“Thanks, man,” he said.

He bled from a cut just over his cheek and under his pale blue eye, but he stared at the incoming enemies with a determined expression, and an unbroken spirit, and took a few deep breaths.

“I’m not down yet!” he shouted.

“Not so loud!” someone replied next to him. “My head’s killing me…”

Nar froze for a moment. The Climber before him, with daggers in one hand, pressed a hand to his forehead. His pointy long ears gave his kind away.

“How's the Yearning?” Nar asked.

“Fuck that shit…” the guy replied. “Fight! Fight! Fight! It won’t fucking shut up!”

“It will be okay,” a green and purplish woman told him. She had a staff in her hand. “We’re almost there. Hang on for a bit longer.”

Nar found himself smiling. It was just like their own party.

“Nar…”

Her voice died in her throat and Nar turned back around, towards the edge.

One. Two. Three…

Big legs clung to the top of the bridge, burrowing into its surface, and their owners peaked at them from just above the edge, a multitude of blazing red eyes searching for prey. Three of the massive spiders were slowly hauling themselves up onto the bridge, just a few dozen steps in front of them.

“Get up! Get up!” the tank shouted. “They’re going to get up here!”

A host of smaller spiders crawled up, swarming around their larger counterparts, covering their ascend.

All along the line, Climbers were getting ready to fight again, but the line had been pushed back in that attack, and as far as Nar could see, up and down the line, spiders of all sizes, big and small, were claiming the edge and several feet of bridge in front of it.

“We’ve lost the edge,” Nar said.

“Shit,” the alfin muttered. “Boss, what do we do?”

“You heard her!” a man said, another altei. “We’re going to use our skills! But just enough to push them back! I don’t want anyone running empty!”

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Nar nodded along with their yeses.

“Jul, we’re going to stay here for a bit,” Nar said. “We need to help them hold. Then we’ll do the same around us, and go back to check on the others.”

Jul gulped and nodded.

Please be alright, Nar hoped.

With both Nar and Jul there, the party had no senses to cover them. All he could hope for was that they had managed to avoid that explosive run.

With no choice but to push the party out of his mind, Nar watched the three big spiders hoist themselves further up. Around him, Climbers were still scrambling to their feet, and as far as his [Sight] allowed him to see, this was the only place where three of the massive spiders crawled up together. If they got through, nothing would stop them.

“Is this one of those points?” Jul asked.

Nar shook his head. “I don’t know. But we’re here. We’ll do what we can.”

He turned to the party next to them. “Hey! Can you guys give us a hand? We can’t let those things get up here!”

“No, we can’t!” their party leader replied. “What do you want from us?”

Nar scanned their party. The tank, the rogue, a two-handed ax wielding woman, the caster, the leader, and a male archer. A small party. He was impressed they had managed to Climb with so few of them. Maybe they were all incredibly strong. That or they had already suffered losses.

“I’m going to get in there and hit those legs!” Nar shouted. “I need you to make sure I’m not eaten by the small ones!”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“I’m a tank/DPS, and I’m fast. I’ve done this before!”

He grabbed Jul and pushed her towards them. “This is Jul, she’s a rogue with incredible senses. She’s going to help you!”

“What? No! I’m coming with you!”

“You don’t have the attributes for this! Now it's your turn to trust me!”

Something whistled above his head. A Climber was pulled off the floor and flung into the chasm. Nar watched the Climber scream to his death, and disappear over the edge, plummeting into the darkness below.

“They have wires!” Jul shouted.

“They have what?” the alfin asked.

“They shoot wires from their mouths! Electric wires!” Nar said.

“Fucking pile!” the tank shouted. “How much more shit are they going to throw at us!”

“Watch out!” their archer and Jul both shouted at the same time.

Wires darted at the re-forming lines.

Climbers were electrocuted to death, smoking as they dropped, or were snatched into the air, never to be seen again.

Nar pulled the big tank out of the way and a buzzing, angry wire snapped around nothing and was reeled back.

“Crystal…” he whispered, going pale.

“Cover yourselves in aura!” Nar shouted. “It might keep you alive against the electricity!”

“Got it!” their leader said. “What's your name?”

“Nar!”

“I’m Tiv! Get in there and do your thing! We’ll cover you with Jul!”

“Be careful!” Jul said.

“Watch my back!”

“Always!”

Nar turned to the mass of enemies arrayed before him.

Smash my way through the little guys first, then hit those legs. And avoid being snatched or electrocuted. Nice and simple. Here we go! [Aura Quickening]!

It was the first time he used his new and improved [Aura Quickening] skill. He inhaled sharply as aura burst from his chest and rushed into his brain and, a split second later, his limbs.

Holy shit!

Things slowed down around him as his [NPC] received a sudden influx of an extra 15 points. Fifteen! He only had five originally.

He traced a wire flying above him with his eyes. It moved so slowly the electricity flowed along its length, rather than flashing with its usual angry snarl and snapping.

The wire was going to miss him, but it was headed straight to an oblivious Climber. The woman had her back turned to him, and was helping another Climber to his feet.

No, you don’t!

He flicked his blade upwards, and the aura covered weapon pushed the wire off course, where it wouldn’t harm anyone.

Then, he was gone.

He only had four seconds left.

He waded into the smaller crowd of spiders, sweeping his sword in front of him in wide arcs. His aura raged across his blade, furious and threatening to spill out of his control. His sword gained an extra half of its original size, and sharp, swirling tendrils snapped out of it, attacking spiders on their own accord.

What in the pile is going on? Nar asked himself. He could no longer ignore that something was happening to his aura.

Three seconds.

He didn’t have the time to think about it right now, and so, he let his aura rage wild around him. If anything, it was helping him, though he worried it might end up depleting him faster than intended.

With a frown of concentration, he continued plowing through the spiders. If he let them up, dozens, if not hundreds, would die.

The aura across his sword grew even further, and voraciously lashed out at anything that was an enemy around him.

He slashed and bashed, and forced his way further in.

The enemy saw what he was doing and reacted to it. Spiders jumped at him. Wires snarled down to capture him, but Nar was moving in a Nexus of his own.

His boosted [Instinct] caught everything, filling his surroundings with color and sizes and shapes he could barely comprehend. His [NPC] filtered through it all and fed the results to his [Reflexes], and his [Speed] and [Agility] translated it all into absolute carnage. He was untouchable.

One second.

He was almost through.

A volley of projectiles and aura of all kinds smashed into the enemies around him. Other parties must have joined in to help them, and it was enough to help him clear the last few feet of enemies.

A spider’s head, big and ugly, with moving red eyes and furious mandibles, towered above him.

It bent low and shot everything it had at him, trying to encase him in electricity.

From this close, and with that many threads, even his [Aura Quickening] and all his attributes were not enough to get him out of the way in time. Instead, he flooded himself with aura.

The wires snapped, tight around him, buzzing with life ending electricity. Nar didn’t even feel them. His aura took it all in.

And the monster had made the mistake of lowering its head into range of his oversized aura sword.

[Aura Strike]. 50 points!

His blade shrieked and the tendrils grew even lengthier. He swung the blade up, and plunged it into the spider's head.

His aura sliced through the metal as if it was skin, flesh and bones, and burst out from the middle of the machine’s head. He hadn’t had enough reach to fully cut the head in half, but his aura was so destructive it shredded the head into pieces, shrieking as it slashed through the thing’s head.

The spider's legs went limp, and it careened backwards, falling into the abyss. Luckily, his strike had destroyed whatever those wires were attached to, else, he would’ve been dragged down, right with the falling machine.

[Aura Quickening]!

He triggered his skill again and felt the surge of aura once more take over his mind. He gritted his teeth. It felt jarring that second time.

Too soon! He realized, remembering the warning that came with the powerful skill.

But he needed the time to scan the battlefield.

Jul and the other party were engaged with the small spiders, but he could see that his charge had thrown the enemy into disarray. He had shifted their attention to him, and he could see that the line that had almost been swallowed was instead starting to reform.

Maybe that was a point after all, he thought, surprised at the effect he had had in the flow of the battle.

His [Instinct] flared and he jumped out of the way.

The other two big spiders were attacking him with their legs on either side of him. Wires snapped at him, but he dodged under and out of their way.

Left first! He decided.

He ran towards the spider on the left, making a zig-zagging charge towards its closest leg.

He bashed through the smaller ones, barely bothered by them, and ducked under the big spider's mouth. Unfortunately, it was too high up for him to reach. However, its leg would do just fine.

He didn’t use his [Aura Strike] again. In a battle where a single hit could kill him, that little gray bar was more important than his HP ever was. He had to make sure that it lasted.

He reached the leg and smashed his sword against it.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

He hit in quick succession, boosted by [Aura Quickening]s last two seconds.

Cracks spread from the impacted area.

The fourth time he bashed it, his aura penetrated and spread through the cracks, widening them.

The fifth time he hammered that leg, it smashed broken.

The spider cried out, trying to balance itself with just the other five legs, but Nar was already on the move. He didn’t need skills for this. He got to the other leg and hacked at it with the same vicious abandon. The metal didn’t last long.

A loud scratching noise came up the side. The spider burrowed into the side of the bridge with its four remaining legs, carving deep furrows into the wall. But its head finally came low enough for Nar to push his blade through it.

He shouted, moving the sword inside the spider’s head. The thing screeched in his face and seizures ran across its body. It made it lose control over its legs, and Nar pulled his sword back out, and watched the second spider fall.

The sound of loud explosions made him look to his right. The other spider was engulfed in bright aura, from a volley of [Aura Projectile]s. Still burning gray, it too, fell off the bridge screaming its high-pitched shrill cry.

A cheer rose from the Climber’s line behind him.

“Well done, left side! Keep it up!” Juf said, her voice echoing above him as he quickly cut his way back.

“Fucking pile, man! That was amazing!” Tiv shouted as he reached them.

Nar grinned like a fool. “I got lucky!”

“Got lucky my ass!”

“Nar!” Jul shouted, running towards him.

“Are you guys staying here, or?”

An enormous shockwave rocked the bridge before Nar could reply to Tiv.

Aura rose in tremendous columns around the Raid Boss, and it complained loudly of the damage hurled upon it.

“Crystal…” Tiv said. “Maybe we really can make it out of here!”

“Maybe,” Nar said, mesmerized by the exploding, roaring aura wrapping around the Raid Boss.

“We need to go!” Jul said.

Nar nodded slowly, bringing his eyes back from the spectacle in the middle of the bridge.

“We need to get back to our party,” Nar said. “I hope to see you again. Outside!”

“Me too, man! Thank you for everything and good luck!”

Nar waved back at him as he and Jul waded into the chaos of Climbers once again.