That night, looking at the penultimate Linus of Krists go over the cliff to the west, shining their last lights on the sea of red flower trees, I felt tension like never before.
Me and my sister had levelled up as best we could, checking our new skills and trying most of them out.
My sister had gained six levels while I had gained five. But we both had gained a new class skill, me in [Berserker] and her in [Ascensus].
Mine was [Immunity], which made all poisons inert when inside my body. It had two main issues though: It was useless in the fight to come, and it didn’t work against impure water, for some reason the System did not explain. Hers was [Frost], and it simply was the perfect skill. We had seen a good example of its usage with Henry, and after checking it with the [Help] skill, my sister had discovered that it cost even less power than [Move]. But of course, it only worked on impure water.
She had taken a gourd filled with the law-breaking liquid, hoping she would find more water stuck on the bottom of the tree-leaves if need arose.
I exited my [Status], giving a quick check at my equipment. I had taken my bow and my sword this time, but I was quite certain using the latter would mean that I was in a really, really bad spot. After seeing me shoot with a bow, Kan had found me good enough to act as a support. My sister hadn’t even been allowed to keep a blade. Vi had provided some suggestions for her though. As an Ascensus, she would need to use her skills, and even though it would be slow as Elle hadn’t had time to ‘teach’ the System, as long as she described what she wanted accurately, Blue would take control and do as my sister ordered.
Which she found pretty dope.
“I can order this world’s god around, how cool is that.”
“Immensely.” I had answered. I was saying it honestly too, I couldn’t wait for my [Hydrology] stats to be balanced and try the Ascensus’ skills myself.
We were both wearing simple cloth armour, the ones that were usually kept for [Wood Elves], as those were the only ones that fit.
Soldiers started to ignite torches, and I knew our wait of the night was finished.
Four of Kan’s trainees had managed to get the class, Vi as well, which was almost unfortunate as it would have been much in anyone else’s hands. I didn’t remember the names of the brand new [Soldiers] who had been charged with protecting us, but I had spoken with each of them a few times. Three were originally farmers, and sadly, a bit as expected, they had given me stares and dirty jokes, but to their credit they had also always kept their eyes open to the dangers of the forest, especially when we were around.
This time, their looks were fearful.
The night was pitch black. Vi had told us the lights in the ocean at night came from super bright types of sea anemones, but those only existed in specific parts of the Dark Upperseas, and so some nights were bright, and some weren’t.
“This is going to be shitty.” My sister was thinking the same thing I was.
And as if just to spite her, it went even worse.
Heavy fog started to emerge from the woods, enveloping the whole area in a grey hue that made the torches barely effective.
This time, my sister didn’t comment.
Minutes passed as if they were hours.
“Nielle.” I heard someone whisper in my left ear.
I almost literally jumped out of my skin.
“Who! What?!”
I saw Vi look down on me. I hadn’t felt towered like that since I had gone and watched my campus’ basketball match. “Shit Vi! You almost killed me.”
“And I almost fell of the palisade.” Gaëlle added, her hand on her heart.
“I’m sorry. But we need you north, there is a [Tooth-Bear] that is coming in on trap number two. We can’t use the convex mirrors with this weather.”
“Shit.” I swore. “Let’s go.”
“Let me guide you. This is Vi! I’m picking up Nielle and Elle!” Vi shouted to the other men.
“Understood!” I heard one of the farmers respond, unable to see much more than his silhouette. Yul, that was his name I suddenly remembered.
“What a draconic situation.” Vi mumbled.
“I’m starting to miss my micro-economics classes.” Elle answered behind.
We continued our walk through the mist, but it cleared out as we reached the northern gate. It was opened but closely guarded by four men. When we passed to the outside, we arrived at the edge of the forest and the start of the cultivated plains. Over on this world’s equivalent of wheat, except it was some sort of little berry-cereal fusion named Hypres, I saw Kan and Louis, helped with Rik more to the back. The hunter was planting torches around while trying to shoot arrows towards tentacled eyes, and the two experienced [Soldiers] were dragging a [Tooth-Bear] around, keeping it close to the large clear and dug down area where our plastic explosives were set up.
“We’re here!” I shouted.
Kan gave us a sharp look as he dodged something I could only assume was a tooth-projectile. “Good! Stand ready!” he commanded. “Don’t get closer!” He jumped back, going directly inside the booby-trapped area. The [Tooth-Bear] followed after him, naturally attracted to the highest levelled of the group.
When Kan got out of the hole, the [Tooth-Bear] was in its centre.
“Now!”
“Bonnie, blow up trap 2!” I commanded, saying the words as distinctly as possible.
“Explosives 2 armed. Ignited.” I heard the computer echo in my neck.
There was a flash followed by a large boom, and then the opened upper half of the [Tooth-Bear] fell next to Louis.
It was still alive, squirming and throwing tooths around. The human [Soldier] didn’t seem to care. He stepped forwards and decapitated the three tentacle eyes with one swift swoop of his blade.
You have killed [Tooth-Bear] [Level 287]
For killing a living being two times over your level, you gain extra experience
Experience is shared with others
4783 Experience awarded
100 000 Experience awarded
“That was a little one.” Kan stuck his sword in the ground to catch his breath. “Everyone okay?”
“Yes Boss.” Louis answered immediately.
“I’m fine.” Rik added.
“Sorry to have brought you here.” Kan told us. “I couldn’t be held down here for hours while we await the big prize.”
The reason why all of our best fighters were over to the northern gate, was that it was the best place to fight, and that we hoped the high levels grouped in one place would attract the [Ground Drake].
But then I heard something in the distance.
“Are those…bells?” I asked. It seemed to be coming from the centre of the village.
“Bells?” Kan’s tiredness seemed to immediately disappear. “That means the palisade has been breached! With me!” He picked his sword and ran back to the village.
Everyone followed him, as we passed the men holding the gate, Kan gave them quick orders.
“Stay here and defend this entrance with your lives. You will not get any more help. You understand?”
“Y…Yes Kan Mor!”
As we continued running through the torchlit dirt streets of Canvas, the bells echoed harder and harder, louder and louder.
Then, the screams.
“The [Ground Drake] is here!”
“Run! RUN!”
But the further we advanced, the less we saw. We met a mass of people running in the opposite direction, dressed in sleeping pyjamas, some almost naked. We almost got trampled as they didn’t see us.
“Calm down! Calm down!” Kan Mor tried. But the panic was too powerful, and we were forced to push our way through. Vi and Rik pulled in front of me and my sister, taking the brunt of the people head on so we would not need to.
Then, it stopped. I saw people disappear in the mist behind, heard their footsteps get overtaken by the bells.
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“GRRRRRR.” Growled the obscurity in front of us. Then, silence. Even the bells stopped ringing.
“SHIT, DODGE!!!” Louis’ voice was so powerful it made me blink and stand there like an idiot. I stared at the light that was growing out of the mist and getting brighter and brighter, bigger and bigger.
Vi acted instantly, grabbing both me and my sister. Despite looking like a model, she carried us like she was a strongwoman, backpacks full of plastic and everything, and threw herself and us in a side-alleyway.
I saw Rik jump with us, and Louis pull Kan who was in front out of the way.
Then, as we fell in a world of slow-motion, the world became white, hot and fire.
The sound was ten flamethrowers firing simultaneously, as if a rocket had started its launch sequence.
The heat was phenomenal, feeling like it could make our clothes ignite spontaneously.
Then we crashed on the dirt hard, and the fire was gone. But Vi didn’t let us recover. “On your feet! Nielle, explosives!”
This time, I didn’t stand there in shock, and neither did Gaëlle.
I pulled out my backpack while Vi kept an eye on where the fire had come from.
“Vi!” My sister demanded. “Do you think this mist is impure?”
The elf looked back at her for one second. “Try it!”
L didn’t get asked twice. “[Move] get all that ambient water away from us!”
As if a wind had come down to us, the clouds of greyness dissipated.
The torches now worked as intended, with their light revealing the dire situation.
The stone buildings were on fire, the drake fire eating slowly through them. There was a body burnt to the crisp, soon to be just bones and ash, on the road where we had stood seconds before. I saw Rik next to us, so that could only be Kan or Louis. With what I had seen at the end… But beyond the body, I saw a shadow. A massive, bus-sized silhouette on the fire-lit ground. And then it was gone, as mist seeped through the road once again, obstructing our view.
“Shit, it has a special skill. Of course it has.” Vi swore. “Rik? You okay?”
“…fine.”
I picked two plastic packages and gave them to Vi. I checked the numbers on them, 88 and 89. I nodded. The elf picked them up carefully and gazed back at me. “When I tell you?”
“Yes.” I answered simply.
She nodded sideways. “[Shadow][Silence][Red Eyes].” And she disappeared in a mist of darkness.
I didn’t try to follow the unnatural patch of black space, I looked at Rik.
“You hurt?”
“No…no. I…Ida…” The [Wood Elf] was looking at the body on the road.
“…It’s not your father. That’s…it’s Louis, I believe.”
“Oh…oh…I need to find him.”
Gaëlle was on her feet, and she started to bark at us. “Get up you two! [Move] get that mist away!” Once again, the mist receded.
Kan appeared from the other side of the road. He looked a bit singed and smoky, but otherwise unharmed. His expression was cold iron.
“Rik. Up.”
The [Wood Elf] hunter rose, looking relieved for half a second. Then he blinked in surprise. “I accept.” He looked up to his father. “I have received the [Soldier] class right now.”
“Perfect timing. We need to pull it back to the forest. Follow me.”
We all did as he ordered.
“I can make the mist disappear for a while.” Gaëlle said as we ran around the streets.
“Good. I got a good look at him. He’s big, but slower than normal. This mist is his skill. What about Vi?” Kan asked.
“She’s going to set up the oil directly on it using her class skills.”
Kan nodded sideways. “A good plan. If you can, do not hesitate to blow the explosives. Whether someone is next to it or you destroy a house, it doesn’t matter, you get me?”
“I…I understand.” I was getting a bit winded now, the fatigue and all those sprints across the village getting to me.
It only took a few more seconds for us to emerge further down the burning road.
“Elle.” Kan commanded.
“On it. [Move] get that mist away.”
The road appeared entirely, as did an immense mass in its middle. There were embers flying all over, and everything was on fire, except for the monster with dark brown scales, his tail six or seven meters alone, the rest of his body seemingly the same size and half that height.
The [Ground Drake] turned around, breaking through the stone houses as if they were cardboard. It had ashes all over its large wolf-like jaw, its eyes a deep red that claimed violence. It sniffed deeply, making dust and ashes twirl around his face.
It showed its teeth, rows and rows of sharp, knife-like instruments of devouring. Mist emerged through them, enveloping him in clouds once again.
“[Move] Get that mist back in its throat!” Elle shouted.
It worked, and the [Ground Drake] made a sound a bit like a gurgle. It didn’t look happy at all, and this time, it opened its mouth wide, a miniature sun emerging from its throat.
“Scatter!” Kan commanded.
We were ready this time, and all of us managed to throw ourselves out of the way.
The giant column of flames burst through the road, without doing much at all except increase the temperature massively. I felt sweat pearl from my forehead and neck.
I looked at the monster from the corner of the side road, it was now actively moving towards us. Fast.
“Run to the west gate!” The old [Soldier] shouted at us. I followed his orders and started to sprint once more.
But my ears picked something up. “Nielle! Blow it!”
I spotted Vi on top of a house that had its bottom on fire. She gave me a large wave of the hand.
“Bonnie, blow up 88 and 89!”
Two large booms echoed from behind us. I quickly looked, and I saw deep fuming holes in the [Ground Drake]. It wasn’t dead though, far from it. Blood poured out, and it gave an immense, guttural roar that shook my bones. Then it began to run twice as hard.
“Shit shit shit shit. Don’t stop!” I shouted to the others.
“I’m not fucking dumb!” My sister answered without even giving me a glance back.
We quickly reached the western entrance. It was burnt to the ground, not even bodies around the many fires and remnants of building and walls.
Kan stopped.
“Fuck. We need to fight it here. We won’t have light in the forest.”
“Fight it?” Gaëlle almost choked on it. “It survived two fucking C4s in the face!”
“We have no choice; this is our best bet.”
It didn’t matter what we thought, as the giant drake emerged out of a burning house, throwing rubble all around.
“It’s a smart monster, don’t expect it to act like the [Tooth-Bear] in the cave.” Rik told me.
“Surround it!” Kan ordered.
Vi appeared on top of a neighbouring house. “[Strength][Speed][Paralysis][Death].” I heard her shout. Then “[Throw].” Her dagger flew straight towards the wounds on the [Ground Drake]‘s back before I lost sight of the blade.
“Nielle! I need more bombs!” She screamed at me.
“We’ll distract it. Go.” Kan stayed focused on the monster. It was looking at us, trying to decide which one to attack first.
An arrow bounced off its eyelid, and he finally decided to go for Rik. The Hunter dropped his bow and ran for his life. “[Armor]!” He shouted.
“[Strength][Armor]” His father echoed him. We were clearly in an all-in situation.
I ran towards Vi’s position, and she just jumped down the long drop to meet me as if it was the most effortless thing to do.
“Holy shit…” I admired for a fraction of a second.
My sister shouted behind me: “[Move] Mist!”
“Nielle, tell Kan that I poisoned the [Ground Drake], the more it fights, the weaker it’ll be. But its instincts are terrifying; I can only get to him after he spewed his fire. And if he destroys all the houses, I won’t have any place left to jump from anymore.”
She explained in a hurry, the translation skill having a hard time following.
“Ok. Ok.” I handed her two more charges. 90 and 91. We were getting dangerously close to not having enough explosives to handle the last week.
“Good luck.” I told her as she climbed back on the houses as if the flat stone was a ladder.
“You too.” I heard her respond as I went back to my sister.
She was standing behind the monster, getting the mist away and giving us a clear view, while Rik and Kan were dodging and weaving. The massive scope of the [Ground Drake] made its gargantuan strikes telescoped due to the inertia. I saw a giant clawed paw crash to where I last saw one of the two [Wood Elves], only to crush a house, or a wooden cart, but then the [Wood Elf] reappeared a few meters further away, alive.
The mere sound of the strikes was enough to hurt you though.
“Kan! Don’t let it destroy all the houses! Vi has poisoned it, we only need to keep it fighting until it is too tired!” I tried to shout at the old [Soldier]. But he didn’t answer. I soon spotted why, blood oozing from his ears.
“Shit.” We were following the monster, my sister trying her best. After only a few minutes, I knew we weren’t going to hold on much longer. The [Ground Drake] didn’t spew fire anymore, only trying to squash the two elves as if they were mosquitoes. And it would ultimately succeed, seemingly tireless unlike Kan and Rik.
“I’ve got an idea. [Move] Mist!” Gaëlle repeated for the tenth time. “Be ready!”
“What is it?” I asked.
She uncorked her gourd. “[Move] Fly that water in the [Ground Drake]‘s mouth until it drowns!”
I gasped as the impure water flew in the air, making a beautiful arc over the tail of the monster to its head. Then I lost sight on the water.
Seconds passed, and I clenched my teeth in anger. “Do you need more?” I asked my sister.
But then the [Ground Drake] stopped moving.
Rik and Kan emerged from rubbles as they looked at the monster, then I saw them run.
“Wha…” I realized things a fraction of a second too late.
The hellish creature suddenly turned around, it’s body stretching like a cat to let his head appear straight in front of us.
It’s mouth wide open, a not-so miniature sun had evaporated all the water inside, and it burst forth, aimed directly at us.
Looking straight at my death, everything paused. As if the world had stopped, my thoughts exploded, looking at everything, for anything I could do to survive. I found nothing.
My eyes fell on my sister.
Maybe not for me.
“[Vitality].” I chanted. I pushed Gaëlle, a scream emerging from her lips, that I muzzled as I pressed down with all my body. The molten drake fire crushed on my back, pushing me and L deep into the dirt road.
I felt my hair and clothes evaporate, my skull burst, my skin bubble and pop. My bones burned, my soul itself blazed and flared like the forever trapped lights orbiting around the Quiescent.
I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t breathe.
And it didn’t stop.
The pain was forever. I was dead, but I still felt everything that was happening around me, heard the sound of my flesh pop, crackle and turn to ash.
Something important moved away from me.
“DANIEL!? Oh no. Oh no…What…I… [Move]…[Move] all the water around, save my brother!”
I was dead.
“[MOVE] Put the fire on my sister out!” I felt something cold. I felt life all over my body. The pain was going away. Maybe I was going away. “[Purify]!” My sister begged.
Another voice appeared. It was sad.
“Elle…she…she’s dead. You can’t crumble now. You can’t. You need to blow the [Ground Drake] up.”
“He’s not dead! I…I…I didn’t receive the notification!”
“BLOW THE CHARGES!”
“Fuck you! Fuck… Bonnie. What were the charges…the charges that Daniel gave to Vi?”
Something echoed in my neck. “Charge 88, 89, 90 and 91 were given away. Charges 88 and 89 were already…”
“Blow them all up!”
“Error, charges 88 and 89 were already used. Arming charges 90 and 91. Igniting.”
I heard a boom. Wind wash over my body.
Then a thud.
“Gotcha.” Vi exclaimed, glacial cruelty in her voice.
You have killed [Ground Drake] [Level 462]
For killing a living being four times over your level, you gain extra experience
Experience is shared with others
9240 Experience awarded
100 000 000 Experience awarded
You have levelled up
You have levelled up
You have levelled up
…
You have levelled up
Your [Berserker] class has levelled up
You received a class skill
You received a class skill
You received a class skill
Your [Ascensus] class has levelled up
You received a class skill
You received a class skill
You received a class skill
You received a class skill
“Exit.” I told the System, it couldn’t even let me die in peace.
“…By the Blue.” Vi swore, her voice unbelieving.
“Good job, is everyone…” Kan sounded exhausted.
“Is that…” Rik sounded far away.
“Daniel!? Nielle, are you hearing me? Oh thank everything that is holy for your brains.” I felt Lila’s hand in my left, Gaëlle’s in my right.
Maybe I wasn’t dead, I finally realized. I rose back from the dirt hole I had been pushed into. I had patches of mud all over, and what remained of my clothes crumbled in front of me.
Rik looked away, red immediately reaching his ears.
Kan gave me a disbelieving look.
But it was nothing compared to Vi’s.
My sister was hugging me, squeezing me hard enough to break the bones of someone with less [Constitution].
“You fucking idiot. You absolute moron. You utter piece of shit.” She continued insulting me for long minutes.