CHAPTER ELEVEN: LEVEL 6-10

6

The sun is shining brightly through the spacious trees, the sweet smell of morning honeydew and the chirping of birds. The three of us pull out logs and take a seat, awaiting the enemy to reveal itself. Nova takes a few steps forward, “I am your enemy! Don't target those three!” She holds her pinky up in the air. Three massive trolls appear with two goblins but Nova is so excited to fight she gives them no time to react, “Ta!” She flicks them with her pinky, causing them to explode into black sand. She walks back to us, “Agh that was too eas-” She turns around to quickly dodge and bite down to catch the end of a kunai and swiftly moves her head to deflect twenty more with the kunai in her mouth. Twenty assassins rush out of the treeline with swords while throwing a volley of kunai, Nova puts her hands behind her back and spits her kunai into the air, “Ta!” She jumps and catches the kunai in her mouth again, dodging each one and running past each assassin while slitting their throat. An endless ocean of assassins emerge from the treeline, “I don't have time for this! Meteor!” She opens her mouth and it's filled with fire as she leaps high into the air, shooting a massive meteor of flame and molten lava. She continuously shoots massive meteors that hail down on the forest and the endless assassins. The landscape is covered in flame and ash. A single assassin crawls her way out of the fire and reaches towards me her violet eyes turning green, blonde hair filled with blood covers her face, “Um...bra…” She whispers as she falls down into the dirt, the portal opens up but her body doesn't turn into black sand for a moment, then it slowly falls apart into black sand. A small dagger remains in the sand.

“Juzo got next!” Nova smiles and walks towards us with her hands behind her head, “My love what's wrong?”

I'm snapped out of my trance, “It's nothing! Juzo fight hard!” I smile as Nova motions for me to climb on her back and she carries me into the portal.

7

“Oooh! Juzo this is so spooky! Rain Barrier. Good luck!” Eva sits criss crossed in the air and points her hand up, a barrier of wind shields us from the falling rain. Lightning streaks across the sky as thunder booms, before us is endless charred plains and a towering volcano in the distance. I sit on a log next to Nova, “Good luck!”

“Woooh Juzo!” Nova yells while spitting a small pile of lava on the floor to keep us warm.

“Thanks!” Juzo puts his thumb up and grips his sword as he exits the barrier, the pit-pat of the rain hitting his armor is the only thing we can hear, “Transformation!” He yells but stays still, and quickly covers himself with his wings as five massive bats send sonic waves through the air that push down on Juzo, keeping him in place, his body crushing the floor beneath him as he sinks down. He clenches his fists and lets out a deafening roar, the rain is pushed away from him and the pressure of his voice causes the bats to vomit and fall to the ground with a splat. He has little time to recover as a man with shining white claw gauntlets attacks, slashing viciously as Juzo grips his sword, “Grand Slash!” Each strike hits the beast, who takes no damage.

“Eagle Eye.” I say, trying to see what's going on.

They are moving too fast for me to read his name, “Vampire.” I see the vampire aiming for Juzo's wings, Juzo's health bar getting hit for a few points only to quickly recover, “Juzo! He has Lifesteal!” The vampire hisses at me.

“Got it thanks!” Juzo throws his sword into the vampire’s chest and wraps his arms around him, flying high into the sky and crashing down, creating a crater. The vampire’s legs are cut off, his body motionless as the portal appears and Juzo makes his way over to us.

“My turn let's go!” Eva screams as she ushers Juzo into the portal.

“Wait for me!” Nova rushes in after them.

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As I begin to walk towards the portal Eagle Eye is still active, I glimpse the vampire raise his hand to the sky, his eyes fade from violet to a dark red, a sullen look on his frowning face, blood tears falling from his eyes, “So….phi..a.” His body goes limp and slowly turns into black sand. The slight gleam of the half buried claws reflect lightning that streaks across the sky. I walk into the portal.

8

“That was intense!” Eva says as she stretches her legs.

The sun shines brightly up above us and it feels nice to be in calm pleasant weather, “Have fun!” Juzo yells as Eva smirks.

“This will be over in one hit watch!” She soars high into the sky and dodges two enormous fangs and the jaws of a black snake that fills the plains as far as the eye can see. She crashes down on its head with her heel and as it falls she screams, “Air Cannon! Air Cannon! Air Cannon!” Punching holes and severing the head of the snake. It quickly fades into black sand, “Agh so weak.” Her face full of disappointment as the portal appears.

“Don't worry they'll get stronger the higher we go!” Juzo gives her a big hug and she sits on his shoulders.

“Yeah you're right. Get the next one Umbra!” Eva flexes her bicep as they enter the portal.

“Nova what's wrong?” Her face is blankly staring off into the distance then she is suddenly back, “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, let's hurry to the next level.” She shoots a quick smile and walks into the portal. I brush it off and focus on the task ahead.

After walking through the portal I am hit by a gust of wind and rain. The all too familiar smell of a Behemoth hits my nose, but this is no regular one, as black lightning surrounds him I glimpse the name Dragnaroth the God Level Behemoth.

9

I quickly calm my mind and step forward, the top of the tower is flatground a mile wide, Dragnaroth stands on two muscular legs, the towering bull-like body covering most of the sky, the two black horns have a chain of black lightning connecting them, his mouth full of Greatsword sized fangs where black flame rises up, “Well wish me luck.” I flex my bicep and draw my sword.

“Kick his ass!” Nova screams over the monstrous wind from the flapping of his wings.

“You got this!” Juzo yells as a bolt of lightning streaks across the sky followed by thunderous booms.

“You got this!” Eva flexes her bicep.

I turn and prepare myself, “Agility, Attack, Defense, Dragon Attack, Grand Barrier, Dragon Slayer Focus Slice.” I plant my feet on the ground, my body and sword glows red. A white barrier surrounds me, it takes one minute to charge my skill. So now I just wait.

Dragnaroth roars loudly then shoots lightning into the sky, causing a endless volley of lightning strikes to fall down on the barrier. He charges the chain of lightning on his horns and shoots a beam of lightning while shooting a beam of black flames that hit my barrier and slowly fall down the side of it. The many splashes of color reminds me of getting my car washed and watching the soap fall down my windows. Huh? Another weird thought, oh yeah the task ahead. Just a bit more. Dragnaroth flies into the air and then crashes down with both fists but is repelled by the defense of the barrier. All set, “Barrier Down!” Dragnaroth combines his black fire and lightning into a single beam and fires as I swing my sword. The beam of energy disappears as white energy hits Dragnaroth, causing his body to age into an elderly dragon, falling to the floor and breathing his last breath before going limp. His body lingers for some time before turning into black sand that falls off of the edge of the tower into the dark depths below. We hurriedly walk into the portal to escape the rain.

10

“Here let me dry you off!” Eva says while casting a spell on me, my body no longer wet.

“Thank you! We're in another nice field. Good luck Nova!” I say taking a seat, my body a bit fatigued from that battle.

“Thanks!” Nova smiles warmly and begins to walk towards the middle of the field.

“Wooh!” Juzo yells, taking a seat next to me.

“Good luck!” Eva shouts, sitting down as well. We activate Eagle Eye and watch the fight closely.

There is a single mage girl in the middle of the field waiting for Nova. She raises her staff, “Ta!” Nova says but as she runs towards the mage multiple black barriers appear to block her. Nova punches through ten of them but there are hundreds of layers now, all in the form of a cylinder. The mage points her staff towards the sky and a massive gravity field pushes down on Nova, who fights it, causing the ground to crumble beneath her, “Stop fucking with me! Beam!” Flames fill her mouth and she gathers energy, then with such force and power she shoots condensed beam of fire that rips through each barrier and before it hits the mage it is challenged by a beam of black flame coming out of the mage’s staff. Both of them struggle for ten minutes before Nova’s flame pushes through and pierces the heart of the mage. Nova's legs buckle and I quickly use Feint to catch her, “You okay?” I carry her in my arms.

“Yeah thanks love, she was tough.” She smiles and kisses my cheek.

“Um….bra...why?” I look over at the mage girl who has tears in her eyes as she clutches her chest and falls to the floor, remains motionless, then slowly crumbles away into black sand.

“How could you possibly have known her?” Nova asks with a serious expression.

“I don't know, we just have to keep fighting okay?” I try to wash away her worries with a smile. Nova quickly nods.

“She looked so strong! Juzo's turn! Hopefully no rain this time!” Eva glides around the grass.

“I'm so done with rain, where's like a level with food. That’d be so nice!” Juzo walks into the portal with Eva.

I carry Nova into the portal, Juzo gets to go all out.