Behind me ran three people. One shaylip, a person with light blue skin and dark blue hair, and a woman crossed with a panther. Behind the trio was a writhing mass of hairy, bloodthirsty bav’varsts. Now that I was in daylight, and not relying on the black and white outlines of my terahertz vision, I could see they were covered in light brown fur with red and white spots.

I sprinted to the gate that opened. One of the centicrad crawled out and looked like it was waving us in with its head. I took a quick look back and saw that the panther lady was catching up to me while the other two weren’t. From what I could tell, the horde of bav’varsts was going to overtake them before long. Even worse, they looked like they were gaining on me.

I pushed myself harder. When I felt something in my legs pulling, the tingling sensation of the nanites repairing the damage started immediately. Two screams started and were cut off almost instantly, as I imagined the two being swallowed up by the horde. I was about a hundred feet away from the gate when the panther lady caught up to me.

But just as she passed me, she looked like she stumbled. “No, no, no. Not now.” Her speed dropped considerably, and I started catching up with her.

The ground started rumbling, and the snarls of the bav’varst spurred me on further. Panther lady turned and sprinted harder for the door. The centipede-like individual turned and crawled into the door, and it looked like they were about to close the door.

I made it to the door, and just after I made it in, I tripped and tumbled into a wall. The sound of the heavy door slamming shut silenced the snarling, but I could still feel the ground vibrating. Once I had rolled over and sat up, I saw that the panther lady did make it in. She was just in front of the door, on her knees, gasping for air.

The centicrad hissed, and the metal doors fused together as they pulled something from the side. It was a stone beam that barricaded the doors. They turned to us. “That’ll keep them back. Hurry to a defense post if you’re wantin’ to live.”

I stood to my feet. “Defense post?”

If the centicrad was capable of rolling its eyes, it would’ve at that moment. It pointed with several of its legs down a hall. “Both of you go. The first open window that way.”

I looked at the panther lady, who gave a quick glare at the bug person before working her way to her feet. “Fine.” She eyed me from top to bottom. “You look like you’ve had a run-in with them already. Are you good to fight? We don’t have much choice.”

She recovered quickly.

The panther lady stood at around five feet, ten inches, with an athletic build. Her deep ebony fur contrasted beautifully with her piercing emerald green eyes with slitted pupils. Her hair, as dark as her fur, flowed in untamed waves down her back, reaching her waist with subtle blue streaks. She had pointed, expressive ears that were so cute.

She wore a sleek, black bodysuit that clung to her lithe form. Dark leather bracers adorned her forearms and looked like they had several scratch marks on them. Also, she wore a belt with pouches and a sheath with a dagger. She had a bow strapped diagonally around her torso with three packs of quivers on her back. Two of the three were empty.

Her teeth were sharp, and her nails were claw-like, though not as pronounced as a true panther’s. And she wasn’t wearing any boots since her feet were paws. Her sleek, black tail swayed behind her.

I nodded. “Physically, I’m fine. But I don’t have much mana to use my gun beyond a couple of shots.”

Her ears twitched with her tail. “Great. I’m low on arrows, and you’re out of ranged options.” She pointed to my arm blade. “Please tell me you know how to use that.”

I smirked. “I know enough.”

She walked down the hall leading the way. “We need mana potions for you and arrows for me.” She turned. “I’ll be right back. Just keep them off. I’ll make this as quick as possible.”

The panther lady darted off down another hall towards the center of the town. I just stood by and watched. Is she ditching me?

Just then, several people came rushing up to me and passed without saying a word. I turned and watched as the last few disappeared around the corner.

“Are people really going to defend this place?” I asked nobody in particular.

“Think of it as more of a mutual benefit for survival,” a familiar voice behind me said. I turned to see Igzad walking towards me. “I see you’ve had your first run in with the bav’varst. Terrible, weren’t they?”

I looked down at the damage done to my clothes. “That’s a way to put it. Although, I doubt many would be able to compare their experience with mine.”

The lizard man walked past me, wagging his finger. “Whatever you’ve experienced, someone always had worse. Remember that.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “So, what are you waiting around here for? Find yourself a window. This is your best chance to level.”

I eyed him as I walked with him. “You make this sound like it is a chore.”

Igzad scratched his chin. “Yes, and no. Horde days like today happen from time to time. They usually happen because someone stirred up one of their nests.” He gave me a wink. “This is why you don’t go deep into dungeons. You’ll get more than yourself killed. And going in alone, well, that’s just suicide.” Welcome to hell, right?

We walked past several windows, each with three individuals guarding them. I turned to Igzad, “So, how long do these last? And is there anything you can advise me on? And why don’t we just close the windows and wait until they leave?”

Igzad pointed to an unoccupied window. It was a simple cutout with what looked like a seam cut into the bottom of it. “There’re a few problems with that.” He put his hands on the window sill and stuck his head out. I could see that the tidal wave of creatures was still headed our way. “They like to burrow. But they are also incredibly stupid, in that if you give them an opening, they’ll take route and not bother with burrowing.”

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I turned and saw the panther lady running up to us. Her arrow quivers were full, and she had an extra two carried under one arm. In her other arm, she had a small sack, and I could hear some glass clinking with each step.

She came to a stop and huffed for a moment. “Woo. I’m glad things didn’t start without me.” She handed me the sack. “Here, you can make it up to me by keeping them off me when they get too close. I’m not very good with melee combat.”

I grabbed the bag and opened it. Three bottles filled with sloshing liquid sat at the bottom. “What are these? And why are you giving them to me? I don’t even know your name.”

The lack of an exchange of names must have hit her at that moment too. Her eyes went wide as she wiped her face with one hand as she groaned. “Sorry, I got caught up in the moment. I saw your arms and thought maybe you were proficient with that sword, thing.” She tilted her head for a moment as she stared at my arm blade, only to snap straight up. “And since I know that those two were horrifically torn to pieces and eaten, I need someone else. You were close, and you clearly were faster than those two afterthoughts.”

Does she ever shut up?

“Miss,” Igzad held up a hand before she continued. “I’m sure you have many wonderful and reasonable explanations for your decision to partner up with Rina here, but I believe she was curious to your name. To be honest, as am I. I’m Igzad Anshay Zoddon, by the way.”

“Sorry, I can’t help it. When I get excited, or scared, or when I have too much adrenaline in my system, I keep talking.” She started tapping her pointer fingers together as her ears flattened and she looked away. “People tell me all the time that I talk too much, and I know they’re right. It started…”

“Lady,” I nearly shouted.

“Shadara.” She flinched. “My name’s Shadara.”

Igzad gave a coy smile as he winked at me. “Well, Shadara, pleased to meet you. I hope you’re able to shoot those arrows as quick as you can talk.”

Shadara hopped as she pulled her bow over her shoulder. “Oh, I’m faster with the bow.”

Igzad and I both looked at the cat lady. That’s possible? Igzad shook his head and waved to the window. “Well, in that case, have at it. Just a friendly reminder: make sure your shots kill, because you’ll not get the credit for the kill if the bav’varst isn’t dead before it is trampled by its kin.” He headed for the window and peered into the bag for a second before moving on. “By the way, those are mana potions.”

I pulled my gun out and grabbed a mana potion. As I made sure my gun was loaded with whatever rocks I could grab quickly, I took a sip of the mana potion. It tasted like chocolate-covered blueberries. A strange flavor. But if people are going to drink a potion, and it doesn’t taste terrible, that’s a plus.

I drank a mouthful and saw that it filled my mana bar completely, and then some. As I studied the liquid in the bottle, I estimated I drank about a third of it. Cool. Each potion should be worth eighteen shots. I guess I’ve got to make them count.

I followed the other two to the window as Shadara started firing off arrow after arrow. She was like a machine. After she pulled back and released the arrow, she would loop her hand around her head, grab an arrow from a quiver on her back, then flick it out as she drew it back to repeat the process.

I guess she wasn’t all talk after all.

The ground rumbled under our feet as the hoard of bav’varst charged the city. Waves of projectiles, both magical and mundane, showered the oncoming invaders. Hundreds of the carnivorous creatures died each wave, but that hardly made a dent in the throng blanketing the ground. We were twenty-five feet up from the ground, and since I didn’t want to be left out, I aimed my gun.

The bav’varst charging came in all different sizes. Some were the small ones I dealt with first. Others were like the larger ones that ruined my clothes and played tug-a-war with me. There were some even larger than that. I did notice that the larger ones gave me more shards than the smaller ones, so I aimed for the largest oncoming bav’varsts.

My first shot struck the side of one’s face. It didn’t kill it, but neither did it go down. A fireball slammed into the creature’s back but it still kept charging. Several arrows, crossbow bolts, and spears buried themselves in its hide. It slowed down, but didn’t stop. I focused my eyes and zoomed in. Orange, is there a way I can see where my shot will land through my HUD? You know, through calculations and all that.

The host requires a greater connection between nerves in the extremities and the brain. Also greater computation power is required.

Well, it was worth asking. I aimed down the sights, and this time, my shot hit the dead center of the creature’s head. It flopped forward and crushed another three of the smaller ones as more crawled over it. I saw that I received ten stats and two thousand one hundred and ten shards.

“Not bad,” Igzad said as his hand glowed red and a gout of flame launched and engulfed a small bav’varst.

I placed all my points into arcane just so that I could get to the point, I could shoot all six shots without running out of mana. Several of the creatures were getting close, so I aimed my shots to deal with the closest ones. Shadara did the same. All four shots killed the smaller creatures.

After I emptied the barrels, I quickly refilled them and took another mouthful of the mana potion I started. I barely took the time to aim as carefully as before as the creatures started climbing the wall towards us. I only earned three kills before I needed to reload. I dumped all the stats I just gained from my recent kills into quickness.

I’m not moving fast enough to keep up with them.

Name:

Rina Lone

Level:

19

Augments:

Agility:

185

Cellular Regeneration

Arcane:

140

Synthetic eyes: lvl. 2

Power:

65

HUD

Quickness:

310

Epidermal plating (arms) lvl. 1

Resilience:

120

Epidermal plating (hands) lvl. 1

Toughness:

140

Arm blade (right)

Unassigned Points:

0

Shards:

24394

I didn’t have time to reload and drink the last of the potion before one of the little creatures leapt up to our window.