CHAPTER TEN: LEVEL 1-5

1

Walking slowly and staring at us as if we were mere fleas, the towering beast slowly approaches us, scars on the inner thigh, “My how you've grown, I was hoping I could get a rematch one day. Do you remember me?” I say calmly, the air that steams out of his nose, the level 60 Red Lightning Ape stands on two feet and roars loudly, six health bars appearing by his name, “I'll take of this, Eva if you could take care of the minions please.”

“Got it!” Eva smiles as I place my sword into the ground and crack my knuckles.

“I'll sit this one out but I get to fight the next boss!” Nova pulls out two logs from her makeshift satchel and takes a seat with Juzo.

“Yeah do your thing, I call the third level boss then!” Juzo sits down and wipes his nose, “Just hurry my nose is runny.”

Thirty smaller versions of the Red Lightning Ape appear out of thin air, and sprint at us, “Air Minigun.” Eva shoots fast bullets of air that rip the minions to shreds in an instant. They turn into black sand and no items drop.

I walk slowly towards the beast as it charges its skill. I continue to walk slowly as it lunges forward with his fists in the ground and a enormous red beam of energy rushes towards me. I punch with my right fist and the energy is reflected back into his mouth, the beast crashes to the floor and then scrambles to get back up. I push off of the ground and instantly I am in front of him. A swing of his fist that I move to the side while crashing down with my elbow on his forearm. The loud crunch followed by pained screams, I punch his fist, breaking every bone in it. Then I pick him up with ease and slam the beast onto his back, a large crater in the ground. I crash down on his shin with the heel of my foot and it caves in, then I jump high into the air and land with both feet, snapping his other leg. He tries to crawl away using his one good arm and I walk slowly next to him as he huffs and grunts with pain. I grip his throat and slowly squeeze the breath out of him. I let go and it gasps for air, then I squeeze once more. This agonizing torture I bestow for a good twenty minutes before snapping his neck. He turns into black sand and drifts into the wind over the side of the mountain. Another portal appears before us, “I don't remember how weak we were before. Isn't that weird? A long time ago that almost killed me, but now it couldn't hurt me at all.”

“We lived in Valhalla for the past 5 years, training for this very moment. Giant Behemoths, Trolls, hunting to survive. Everything this place should have been but more, the only enemy we should fear is heartbreak.” Juzo gives a thumbs up and hands Nova the log, “Thanks for the seat. Looks like you get the next boss, I'm sure you can handle all of them.”

“You bet I got it!” She punches her fists together.

“I'll relax too!” Eva smiles at the bloodlust surrounding Nova's body.

“Yeah same here, go wild my love.” We shoot each other a smile as we walk into the portal.

2

It seems as if we are at the top of a mountain, but looking down over the nearby ledge I see the night sky and many shining stars. There is a small wooden door in front of us that Nova punches through. The pathway is lit up by glowing violet stones, we slowly walk in silence as Nova searches the area for enemies, “This is a maze, but I don't have time to dungeon crawl right now. Flame.” A bright white flame covers her right hand and shoots forward as she melts through the crystal walls. This goes on for some time until we make it to a giant wooden door, “Time to fight! I'm all fired up! Haha get it?” She smiles at us and punches through the door.

It goes flying across the grand hall filled with piles of skeletons, a chamber of massive violet crystals hanging from the ceiling, “Agh!” The high-pitched startled scream of the Undead Necromancer who casts his spells from the far end in a hurry, “Summon Undead! Curse! Vitality Drain! Poison Cloud! Dark Spheres!” A few thousand skeleton warriors rise from the ground, Curse cut defense and movement speed by 25%, Vitality Drain gives him HP when he deals damage, Poison Cloud creates a violet mist through the hall, six-hundred dark orbs appear above him.

Nova smiles and punches the air, the mist instantly disappearing, “Ta! Ta! Ta! Ta!” It takes all of my skill and focus to follow her movements because they're so fast but I see her punching through the army viciously and as if a single moment passed the shockwaves of her fists cause them to fall into little fragments of bone on the floor. A wave his hand and the orbs streak across the room, “Fire.” She puts both of her fists together and a molten beam of white flame melts through the many orbs and hits half of his body. In a panic he quickly holds up his hands, the bones scattered throughout the hall rushes to him and he changes into a Colossal Skeleton Drake, his sharp talons glowing purple. Nova uses flame to push off of the ground and lift her high up to the ceiling where she pushes off once more, the Drake shoots a beam of dark energy that she dodges. She punches the forehead and all of the bones shatter, she quickly punches through the falling necromancer who turns into black sand.

The three of us cheer as she bows, “I get next!” Juzo yells as a portal appears.

“Go wild Juzo!” Nova gives a thumbs up and wipes the sweat from her forehead.

“I will!” He stretches his arms.

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“Destroy everything honey!” Eva kisses his cheek.

“If we have to jump in and help you have to buy us food!” I laugh and we walk through the portal.

3

Before us is a building made out of crimson stained glass windows, Juzo gently opens the door and we walk in, a red glow fills the building.

“Giant mirror can only mean one thing, I'm gonna have a flex off with the enemy!” Juzo walks up to the massive mirror in the middle of the room and checks himself out in front of it.

The mirror glows purple, a shadow version of Juzo steps out of the mirror, violet mist drifting out of the corners of his mouth, he swings his Greatsword and is quickly blocked by Juzo. A red flash and we are floating in a pitch black room full of stars, I sit down as Juzo and Shadow Juzo use Transformation and soar up above into the endless sky, clashing and spiraling like two planets colliding. Juzo unleashes his 500 hit combo but Shadow Juzo does as well, it seems they are evenly matched. Juzo pretends to attack, causing Shadow Juzo to block as Juzo flies downward as fast as he can, punching the ground. The floor crumbles from the Impact, “Protection!” Eva puts a barrier around us as the building collapses, the mirror is shattered in pieces on the floor, Shadow Juzo is nowhere to be seen and the portal appears once more.

“Eva has next boss huh?” Juzo dusts off his armor, “Good luck love!” He gives the biggest smile.

“Yup! I'll be fine!” She flexes her bicep and I can't help but to worry a bit.

“You got this!” Nova pats her on the back and gives a thumbs up.

“If you need us to jump in just give the signal okay?” I shoot a quick smile.

“Will do!” She looks so cheerful as I give two thumbs up and we head into the portal.

4

The damp smell of the building is replaced by the dry desert air, before us is a wide endless canyon. The sun is high up in the sky, “Eva knock them dead!” Juzo yells with a determined look on his face.

“You got this!” I yell over the deafening roars coming from the enemie’s mouths.

“Woo! Knock em dead! Agh I wish I had this one!” Nova stares out into the distance with bloodlust, but we must fight one boss each to preserve mana since we have no supplies, also it's more fun this way.

“Wish me luck!” She flies out towards the distant enemies. Ten sixty-armed Titans as tall as the sky, all clad in gleaming gold armor walking on two legs, each step shaking the ground. Spartan-like armor covers their face, arms and legs, flowing red capes drift into the distance, long forests of blonde hair fall down past their shoulders, each one of their fists is the size of a mountain, but I am not worried in the least, for Eva has trained harder than the rest of us, driven to catch up to our power unknowing of her own monstrous strength.

“Ughhh I wish I had this!” Nova yells, pacing back and forth.

“This is so intense, how many levels do you think this is?” Juzo takes a seat and watches intently.

“Who knows? We'll smash through all of them though.” I say, focused on the fight ahead, “Ooh look the fight’s about to start. Eagle Eye.” My eyes get the power to see really far.

“Eagle Eye.” Nova says.

“Eagle Eye.” Juzo says and we watch in silence.

Eva takes a deep breathe, standing in the air in front of them, “Heal Heal Heal Heal.” Four buff clocks appear near her name and her body glows, “Wind Spirit, Agility Boost, Mana Pool, Summon Tornado Storm!” The Sky over the titans turns black, thousands of tornados surround them, and as if brought to life by the challenge they all rush to attack, their movements are surprisingly fast for their size. As if they are a single entity their movements are all the same, surrounding Eva as their fists glow golden and a vicious 6,000 hit combo is unleashed by the ten, but Eva is unaffected by it. She glances back at Juzo who gives her a thumbs up. She takes a deep breath and then roars, “RrrrAaaaghhhhhhh!” A gust of wind flows through my hair as their combo is negated and each titan is stunned and holding their ears, “Air Cannon!” She holds her staff with both hands while pointing it at the nearest titan who is holding his head and screaming in agony, she is pushed back almost a hundred feet by the force of the spell, the pressure punches a wide hole through the head of the titan, who crashes into the ground and then turns into a mountain of black sand.

“Woooooh! Yeah Eva! I knew you could do it!” Juzo roars.

In a frenzy the others activate another skill, their palms glowing and out of each hand beams of energy shoot towards Eva, “Air Cannon! Air Cannon! Air Cannon!” She rushes in front of each titan and punches a hole through them, too quick for them to react, they are quickly destroyed. As the last one falls a portal appears next to us, “That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!” Eva flies back and moves the hair from her face.

Nova hugs her and rubs her cheeks together, “Agh you were so great!”

“Thank you Nova! Did you see all of those energy beams!? And my roar! Aghhhhhh!” The excitement in her voice gets to Juzo.

“Good job! That was so cool Eva!” He hugs the both of them and spins them around and then places each one on his shoulder, “Come on time to watch Leader fight!”

“Wooh get em Leader!” Nova screams and flexes her bicep.

“Wooooh!” Eva yells as we walk into the portal.

5

The room is pitch black, “Lantern Flame.” Nova says, throwing fireballs around the room that stick against the walls and stay glowing, Eva and Nova jump down from Juzo's shoulder, “Let me see how big this room is.” She puts all of her strength into her next throw and it flies across the massive hall and hits something tall and solid, a metal clink is heard as the flame goes out.

The faint glow of two violet eyes and I see a few seconds into the future, “Watch out!” I yell as I leap in front of the three, “Barrier!” I push them away as the beast crushes the floor where Juzo was standing with the heel of his foot. I duck to dodge a fist and then step to the left to dodge a kick, his name is Grimgar the Terrible. It seems as if he moves faster than Nova, but after five years I'm used to her speed, it looks as if he is sprinting but I can see his movements clearly. Another punch, a kick, none of his attacks are combos, just thrown attacks. He must not have ever fought anyone who could actually keep up with his speed and just relies on brute strength. I dodge another fist and throw a kick, his body feels as if it is made of metal, but if I could kick and break the leg of a armor plated Behemoth then this is nothing. My kick to his stomach makes him spit black blood before he is sent crashing into the wall, all of this happens in the span of a few seconds, “Nova more light please!”

“Got it!” She covers the ceiling with flame, giving the cavern light.

Grimgar rushes from the hole in the wall with a basic punch, I sidestep and grab his arm then flip him, stepping forward and slamming him into the ground then I wrap my arms around his stomach as he attempts to stand up. I clench and slam him backwards behind me, his head crashing into the ground. I spin around and pin him down with my knee and punch with my right hand while holding his arms down with my left hand. His wails of agony are interrupted by the pressure of my fists, I break all of his teeth and cave in the metallic face until his body becomes still and explodes into black sand. The portal appears.

“That was so quick! Expected of Leader!” Eva yells, flying around the floor.

“Nice one! He was pretty fast!” Nova smiles and punches her fists together, “My turn to smash something's face in!”

“Good luck love!” I give a thumbs up.

“I wish we had tougher opponents.” Juzo says with a glum expression.

“Juzo maybe we're too strong.” I scratch the back of my head and laugh.

“True, let's set handicaps for the next levels then? Hehe.” Nova chuckles holding up her pinky finger.

“No way haha! Fine fine sounds good!” Eva jumps onto Juzo's shoulders as we walk into the portal.