Word quickly went out that the [Ground Drake] had been killed, it quenched some of the panic, but the damage to Canvas had been done. Even though drake fire spread slower than normal fire, if we didn’t act, Canvas would burn entirely. That’s what Vi and Kan told us to bring us out of our shocked states. My sister had sniffed, and dried her tears, while I had accepted that I was naked but alive. And now, unharmed. My [Vitality] skill associated with my body’s natural regeneration had converged in a short moment where I had healed faster than the flames could devour me. I wouldn’t have lasted long, but L’s quick thinking to put out the fire had saved my life. And now, me and my sister had levelled up, and I was pretty sure I had gotten enough to balance my stats. Which meant there were two decent-levelled Ascensus’ that could act as firefighters in a town on fire.
“What are we supposed to do?” I asked nobody in particular. But as I raised my eyes, I only saw Vi in the hellish landscape of what had been the western gate area.
She saw my stare and responded to it first. “Kan and Rik went to check the other gates. We’re not even halfway through the night. I won’t be able to stay either, but I needed to make sure you two were okay.”
“I’m safe as can be, thanks to this idiot.” Gaëlle answered with real anger in her voice.
She wasn’t going to forgive me for that for a long time, but I could live with it.
I had been prepared to die with it.
“So, what do we need to do?” I didn’t answer the elf’s query, I didn’t know what the answer to the question was, really.
“What are your levels? In Ascensus? Can you balance your stats, Nielle?”
“Let me check. [Status]…. I have enough.” I quickly levelled up then double-checked my new stats and levels.
Name: [Nielle Templier]
Race: [Homo Chimera Sapiens]
Age: [29 years old]
Level: [136]
Statistics:
[Strength=120] [Constitution=120] [Perception=116] [Agility=115]
[Hydrology power=1] [Hydrology control=230]
Class: [Berserker = 67]
[Ascensus = 66]
Innate Skills:
[New Species]
[Identical Twins]
[Help]
[Basic Hydromancy]
Skills: (+)
“I’m level one hundred thirty-six, sixty-seven [Berserker], sixty-six [Ascensus].”
“And I’m one hundred forty-two, seventy-four [Ascensus].” My sister added.
Vi gave a quick glance at her. “That means you unlocked the [Heal] skill. It can mend most minor wounds and broken bones. I’ll tell the others so they can send you the wounded…if there are any. People usually don’t survive drake fire.” She gave me a long, meaningful look. “Both of you should have received the [Rain] skill, I think. I’m not certain if it was sixty or eighty. If you did, use it as much as you can, but try to let things around the western area burn, just stop the fire from propagating further into the village.”
I blinked, not understanding.
“What!? Why?”
Vi grimaced. “Because that way, we’ll have one entrance less to worry about. No normal monster will come close to drake fire.”
“And what about abnormal ones?” Elle asked, her voice still weak.
“…You usually only ever see one purple monster in your lifetime, usually at the end of it. If there a two in one night…Well, I guess we’ll die.”
Vi’s tone was calm as she claimed our potential demise, and I nodded, understanding. There were things we couldn’t worry about right now.
“Let’s go at the edge of the fires and try to cast that new spell, then.” I accepted.
“Perfect.” Vi exclaimed. “Don’t stand around here for too long, the fumes can’t be good for you. And while I’m thinking about it, with all the impure mist we breathed in, don’t forget to use [Purify] on yourselves a few times. I’m gone to the southern gate, Kan is in the northern and Rik is to the east. Everyone is counting on you.” She gave us one last glance, then ran to the south-east, and disappeared as she jumped over a patch of black smoke.
“Ok. Ok.” Gaëlle rose to her feet. “We’ve still got a job to do.”
“Yes. Not going to enjoy being naked to do it.”
“I’ve got a t-shirt, at least put my cloth armour on.” She removed her tunic and gave it to me. It barely hid my butt, but it would be better than nothing. Fortunately, my hiking boots were still mostly intact. The top had slightly fused with my ankles.
“That’s going to hurt later.” I noticed.
My sister looked down. “Oh shit.”
“No time now. Let’s check our skills as quickly as possible, and then tame the inferno.”
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Your [Vitality] skill has levelled up
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Rush]
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Strike]
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Red Body]
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Enchant]
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Frost]
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Cascade]
You have unlocked level 1 Class Skill: [Rain]
“Bingo.” I smiled.
“Oh some of them look so cool.” Gaëlle couldn’t stop her excitement.
“No time, let’s go.”
We had found our way to where we had met the [Ground Drake] the first time; the area was almost unrecognizable. There was one house still untouched by the flames. The smoke was making it almost impossible to breathe. We used [Purify] often, and it did help, but we had to calm the raging fires fast, or we would cook and suffocate in minutes. At least the roads were mostly untouched, only patches of drake fire having managed to ignite the wet muddy ground. The houses, the carts, everything was blazing inferno, wind picking up and dragging the flames in a twirling mess all around. I also saw half a horse over on our right, making my very empty stomach gurgle in pain. I didn’t think there were horses in this world, but the small burning stable with the headless equine animal inside was proving me wrong.
Gaëlle tried to say the skill name without adding any descriptions. “[Rain].” It seemed like a very clear order, after all, but nothing happened.
“Let it [Rain]?” I tried.
“Imag…cough…imagine the system making dollars appear from the sky.” Gaëlle tried to laugh, the burning air stopping her.
“That would be funny for one second, until the bills burst into flames and kill us.” I retorted.
“Huh. Still nothing is…” She stopped. “You felt that?”
“What?” The moment I asked, I felt it. Drops of water. Were there clouds above our heads, or was it directly coming from the Upperseas? There was no way we could tell, but soon, rain started to fall, and a few seconds later, it fell even harder.
Very fast, the area we had been in had gone from hellish to diluvian, only a few fires inside the houses surviving the sudden downpour.
“We should have waited a bit longer.” Gaëlle said before adding: “[Purify][Purify].” She purified us both.
It was freezing cold all of a sudden, and the simple cloth tunic wasn’t helping me at all. I felt the water drip on my legs and enter the holes in my shoes.
But as soon as it came, the rain stopped. And now we could breathe again.
I shivered uncontrollably, feeling a sudden surge of drowsiness take over me.
But the fires weren’t all extinguished, as I saw the characteristic red hues in the sky all around except behind.
“Let’s continue.” I wasn’t discouraged.
A rumble echoed out of nowhere, and thunder cracked the dark sky open. Wind picked up and made the cold even harsher.
“Shit…is that like a monster’s special skill or something?” Gaëlle asked in terror.
“No. Remember the fires at home…it happens. We could even get a fire-tornado with all the cold-hot-cold-hot. Wouldn’t that be funny?”
“Don’t jinx it Nielle, please.”
“Yeah, sorry. That’s your job.”
We walked into the unchained elements, crossing four or five streets until reaching the southern palisade. It was partly on fire, as were some buildings, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought. At least I was getting warm again.
“I’ll say it. We need to be careful; the skill costs a lot of power.” Gaëlle explained to me.
“You managed to read the system prompts in these conditions?”
“What can I say, I’m that good.” She grinned.
“Fucking geek.”
She didn’t retort anything back to me, simply stating: “[Rain], a nice long warm shower, please?”
We waited for a few seconds, then two minutes, until rain finally began to fall. It had followed my sister’s instruction, quite a lot of water falling from the skies, except it wasn’t warm at all.
“Let’s leave.” Gaëlle dragged me away, I was seriously trembling like a leaf now.
“Only the northern part left, then we just need to keep the west gate in check.” She planned out loud.
“Y…Yeah.”
“Get those buckets out faster!” A long line of people was trying to battle the flames of the northern part of town, dragging every drop they could from the small village well. It felt like a lost fight; despite the women, children and men battling with everything they could.
“[Rain], let a shower wash away the flames.” I whispered. Me and my sister moved away from the people, looking for an intact home to take cover under.
“Hey! What are you doing!? Come and help!” A large woman sweating profusely shouted at us before recognizing us. “You’re the two strangers…don’t you care what is happening to this town?”
We stopped, and I tried to answer her as best as I could with my shivering voice. Even the flames didn’t help me feel warm anymore.
“It…it’s all…rain is.”
“We are helping lady.” Gaëlle answered with the same tone of offence as the woman’s.
“No you are not you…” But her words were cut off by the sudden downpour. People shouted in shock, then in laughter and prayers to Blue. I didn’t know what they did. I heard a lot of “[Purify].” And people looking for cover, but so much was blurry, I was having a hard time to see.
“You did that!?” I heard the woman shout.
“Yeah, you fuck!”
As suddenly as it came, the water stopped. I felt people look at me now, the stares on my almost naked body making me highly uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure I was shivering from that or the cold in my bones.
“Then why didn’t you do it before? What’s your game, strangers!?”
I heard a murmur emerge from the crowd.
“We just unlocked it! What the hell is your problem we just saved you all!” Elle was getting angrier and angrier.
I heard the hubbub of our surroundings grow noisier. Hushes and questions echoed around, but even though I should have been able to discern what they were saying, I couldn’t.
The ground was wet, too much dirt, footsteps, and watery ash.
“I think you caused all of this, on purpose! A purple monster! So many attacks, just after you arrived!”
“What!?” Gaëlle shouted in high pitched disbelief.
“Yeah, that’s true.” I heard a man say.
“It all became worse and worse when the strangers came!”
The voices were closer now.
I felt my sister grip my hand.
“Bonnie?” She sounded fearful now.
Then a giant slap echoed. I pulled my head up, seeing a farmer next to the angry woman.
“Stand down. Those two have worked their best to save us, and you’re being an ungrateful mare.”
“You…you…” The woman said in confusion.
“The monsters came because they felt we’re weak! Not because those two arrived!”
“But they’re the ones who killed the [Dark Crow]!” I heard someone say.
“IT WASN’T A MONSTER. IT WAS A CROW.” The farmer screamed back at the voice. “Do you think we should have kept it alive, Anna?”
“…” The crowd grew silent now.
“Good. Now, all fires weren’t extinguished; SO GET TO WORK!”
I recognized him from somewhere, but my stomach was hurting so badly, a headache crashing down on my forehead stripping me the ability to think.
Then I was in his arms.
“Whoo. Whoo.” He said softly.
“Nielle?” Gaëlle grabbed my hand harder.
“Wha…?” Why was the world upside down?
“Nielle!?” She repeated.
“…am fine. Just a bit of spin, can still use my skills.”
“No. Girls, you two have done enough. I can see the bones in her cheeks… you’re Elle, yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Take your sister back to the tower, she needs rest and something to eat and drink.”
“Ah…yeah.” I felt my sister pull me over her shoulder.
“…am fine.”
“Shut the fuck up.” She answered with the flattest of tones. “Thank you, Jonas.”
“…Be careful on your way back. It isn’t the first time I had to stop talks like what you heard.”
The farmer left, and I walked with my sister holding on to me tight.
“Those ungrateful shits. They were going to mob us. Mob us!? You almost died for them. And we were getting lynched.” She spoke on her own, then: “You’ll be fine Nielle. We’re not far. I’ll make you a bath, find you some food. And, well, if there is nothing, fuck them, I’m teleporting us back on the station.
“…no…”
“I fucking know you don’t agree. But you gave me your word, and then a shitty lizard arrived, and you broke it. I don’t care what you want.”
She continued berating me the whole way, even when finally reached the tower.