Freya reached her target, the poor mage who’d barely had time to realize that shit had spun out of control fast. The battle had only been going for a few seconds as that crazy ass spear guy charged Fletcher and Mauler. He’d tried to get a barrier up to intercept the ferocious beast but was far too slow.

Freya tore into him with teeth and claws, ripping large wounds into the mage before passing right by him and stopping dead in her tracks roughly 10 feet away. She stood completely motionless, confusing the mage who readied an attack against her. Just a moment later, the mage was struck from behind by another series of raking claws. Freya had activated Afterimage leaving behind a decoy as she teleported right behind the mage for a surprise strike. Again, Freya struck and bounded away, this time toward the tree line. She disappeared into the brush, leaving the mage seriously wounded and paranoid about another surprise strike.

The generals began grouping up with Knox. They’d finally gotten their feet under them and were putting together some semblance of a formation. Knox called orders to the generals and regulars alike, however, the regulars seemed very hesitant to follow them. They’d held their weapons in fear and huddled together, not sure of what to expect. When Knox commanded them to take a formation, their hesitance was punished. Knox charged the nearest one, a level 6 swordsman, and lifted him into the air by his throat, slamming him down with so much force, that only a crater and a corpse were left behind.

The others quickly fell into line, reaching some semblance of a combat formation with the children ensconced in the center.

Void deflected blast after blast from the cursed sentry drones overhead. They were peppering him with elemental attacks relentlessly. The attacks weren’t all that powerful, but he was unable to simply ignore them. He deflected or dodged the attacks easily, however, this was taking up far too much of his attention. Knox would need him to free himself of this nonsense and quickly. Void pointed his staff at the drones and drew an intricate pattern in the air. The pattern remained as a brilliant rune, absorbing energy from the surroundings for just a moment before it erupted in a beam. The energetic beam launched out from the rune, completely disintegrating one of the drones with a direct impact. Another drone that was close to the beam suffered damage simply by proximity, causing it to spark and tumble around in the air as it worked to regain control of its flight systems.

The other archer quickly joined up with Void, working to take down the other two drones. This was the most powerful archer Calvin had seen out here so far. Attuned arrows followed one after another into the two drones. They were frantically dodging the strikes and weaving attacks in as the opportunity presented itself. An arrow pinged off of the damaged drone, sending it careening backward as a golden arrow similar to the one that struck Calvin, pierced right through it. The drone exploded into a shower of debris, releasing the charged fire attunement it had carried. The wave of fire swept down toward the ground and was deflected by an energy barrier summoned by the wounded mage.

Knox charged at Calvin with a fierce roar. He was pissed. This trap was as transparent as could be and somehow he’d managed to get egg on his face. Today, this would end. The little pest and his cretin friends would be forgotten and Knox’s legacy of fear would be bolstered even further. None of these shitstains would ever challenge him again.

His feet pounded into the soil, kicking up a spray of earth behind him as he blistered toward the wounded Calvin.

Calvin saw the approach, his eyes opened wide in fear. He was certainly afraid, however, the show he put on with his face was mostly theatrics. He’d planned for this. Mentally reaching into his pouch, he withdrew a stone tile etched with a rune that looked remarkably like Runic Snare. That’s because it was Runic Snare. Seth had prepared a little gift for him and now was the appropriate time to deliver it. Calvin threw the tile onto the ground right in the path of the charging behemoth of a man. The rune sprang to life as energy erupted from it, arresting Knox in his tracks.

Calvin didn’t waste a second. He lurched forward with as much speed as his wounded body could muster and thrust his spear right into Knox’s chest. Calvin expected this would be the end of it all. He suspected wrong. A thin nanite film pulsed out from the point of impact, shielding Knox’s body from the strike. A small smirk formed on Knox’s face, and the look of panic on Calvin’s became real. The effect of the rune ended and Knox swiped his club at Calvin, striking him in the left shoulder. The impact broke Calvin’s shoulder and sent him flying dozens of feet into the forest as he slammed to a stop in the undergrowth.

Calvin coughed blood as he struggled to get to his feet. His arm dangled limply at his side as he fought through the agony to bring his spear up. He was in a dire situation with a single strike, but he would not give up.

Knox approached slowly and confidently as if he was taking a stroll through the park. An evil grin was plastered on his face as he let the tension and fear build on his approach. He would end this swine here and now. He was too powerful and this little engagement further strengthened his ego. Nothing could stop him.

A fierce barrage of earthen bullets slammed into him, three, then six, then a dozen. Ian had seen Calvin’s strike fail and then saw him get launched back by Knox’s swing. He released a relentless stream of stones at Knox, desperately hoping to weaken the barrier and slow him down. He released Storm Surge followed by Enkindle, the attacks simply dissipated on the barrier.

Marshall had arrived near Calvin now, firing pulse blasts at Knox the entire way. Knox lifted his club and slammed it down, releasing another destructive wave of earth toward Calvin’s location. He was getting damned tired of these pests.

Calvin saw the incoming wave and knew he would not have the speed to escape, in a last-ditch effort he jammed his spear into the ground, summoning his barrier. Marshall came sliding in at a reckless speed and slammed down on Triage Tent. A dome-shaped barrier was erected instantly around the duo, temporarily removing them from combat. Without a wasted moment, Marshall kicked off his Field Surgery skill. A small drone materialized out of the air and began knitting Calvin back to full health. His arm slowly mended, painfully, as the shattered bones reorganized themselves and stitched back together.

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“C’mon Cal, let’s move!” Marshall shouted, picking his friend up.

Ian was quick, he summoned a massive earth-attuned wall in front of Knox as the trio darted back toward their original spots. They would reposition and strike from a different angle.

Knox was deterred by the barrier for just a second as he slammed into it with his club, demolishing it into rubble and earthen shrapnel.

“I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU!” he boomed out.

The trio paused a few hundred feet away and looked out to survey the situation. Freya was back with them now.

“Thanks Marshall. That asshole moves quick.” Calvin said, “That damn barrier he has… it’s too strong.”

“Agreed, it can’t be invulnerable though. Do you think the system would give out something like that to someone in the tutorial? Seems like it defeats the purpose.” Ian said.

“Liam mentioned it was an effect of his armor and that he suspected that Void guy might be strengthening it somehow. I say we take him out.” Calvin said.

“I was able to land a Bio-Mark on him when I came to save your ass, so some things get through.” Marshall offered.

Now, that was interesting. The barrier didn’t block all harmful effects it seems. The group charged off to meet up with Seth and Sasha. It was time to kick off the next phase of the plan.

The group had prepared a gauntlet of sorts. In their initial planning, they hadn’t planned to face off against Knox’s group in a direct confrontation. Calvin, being the ever-stalwart do-gooder he was, decided to derail everything by stepping out and stopping Knox from murdering that man. It was the right thing to do and nobody blamed him for it, but damn if it didn’t fuck everything up and almost get Calvin killed.

The gauntlet was really a series of runes Seth had inscribed into nearly every surface he could. He’d placed runes on trees, in the soil, on boulders, and on bone plates that he’d brought along with them. They had found a spot where the trail ran down into a small valley, surrounded on both sides by steep hills. Ian and Calvin had infused these runes with as much energy as they could before downing potions to replenish their resources. It was risky since they’d be starting the fight with a potion cooldown, but they accepted the risk, hoping to draw the fight on long enough to get through that cooldown if they needed it.

Marshall and Calvin took up a position at the far end of this trail. Calvin leaned up against a rock, just barely out of direct line of sight from the entrance of the trail and Marshall kneeled beside him ‘tending’ to his wounds. Calvin didn’t need tending to, as Field Surgery had already taken care of him, but this was part of the plan.

Knox and his generals approached the trail, following the disturbed undergrowth Calvin’s group had left behind.

“You’re a coward, you know that Calvin?” Knox shouted.

“I’m a coward? You’re the one who couldn’t get by in this damned place without scaring a bunch of people into doing your dirty work. You brought children as a shield for God’s sake. You’re probably the biggest coward in this whole tutorial.” Calvin shouted back. He was pissing Knox off now, and he would keep digging into that wound. Angry people made stupid decisions.

“In fact, I’d love to know what you did back on Earth. I imagine it was some real degenerate, cowardly shit. I imagine you as some fragile, weak little goblin, preying on people weaker than you, which must have been tough… you know… finding someone weaker than you.”

“Calvin, I’m going to kill you, you know that right? I’m not just going to kill you though; I’m going to break every bone in your body. I’m going to line your little bitch friends up in front of you and make them beg for me to end it. I am going to take my sweet time with each and every one of them while you watch. I will chain you up and make you suffer with those thoughts as infection takes a hold of you and eats you from the inside out.”

“Keep dreaming little man. You can’t do shit.”

Knox saw Calvin then, doing a piss poor job at hiding. That fucking coward thinks he’s so god damned clever Knox thought.

Enraged, Knox pointed out Calvin’s hiding spot to his generals and they charged.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

As they charged into the gauntlet, infused runic mines began detonating in every direction. Boulders exploded into a rain of shrapnel, bone plates erupted into a web of lightning, and trees erupted jets of fire like small angry dragons. The trap had been a huge success.

Knox’s group had survived the onslaught but retreated rapidly. Their armor was shredded and burned, the archer in particular who had the least protection, sported spots of melting flesh on their face and arms. They were out of commission for sure.

Void and Knox were mostly unscathed. Void had caught some damage, however, they were able to deflect a large majority of it through the use of their spatial barriers.

Once again, Freya appeared from behind. She charged through the archer, getting a solid slash across his hamstrings as she flew toward the mage. She ripped at the mage with an Attuned Bite before again dashing off into the jungle. Calvin had worked up this little guerilla tactic with her. She had extraordinary speed and the ability to teleport if she found herself pinned down. It was having an incredible effect on their performance. Not only was she dealing appreciable amounts of physical damage, but she was also impacting their morale and cohesion. The generals performed a combat retreat, their eyes darting warily at every rustle of leaves in the forest surrounding them.

On the hillside, archers rained down arrows into the retreating group. There were only four of them and they were severely under-leveled for this fight, but arrows were arrows and they were highly motivated individuals.

An arrow whistled out from the other side of the trail, then promptly split into three. Liam had returned. Two of the arrows careened off of the warrior’s shield, but the third planted itself firmly in Knox’s leg. His barrier was down.

Calvin took note of that, nodding to Marshall as they charged out from their hiding spot. Pulse round after pulse round sizzled through the air, striking the retreating combatants. Void took a strike to the shoulder and responded with a runic beam of furious intensity. The beam tore space apart as it ripped past Marshall and Calvin. They had dodged the beam just in the nick of time, however, they both received bleeding wounds as the disrupted space around the beam tore at the fabric of their being.

Sasha burst out of the brush, slamming her shield into the second mage. She promptly kicked her impaled victim off of her shield and blasted him into the dirt with the released charge of electric energy. Before she could finish the mage with a clean slash of her sword, she was struck by a shield herself, knocking her off balance slightly. The warrior barreled forward. He slashed repeatedly at the scrambling Sasha, striking her shield with infused blows that threatened to break her wrists. She planted her feet and as the next blow fell, and deflected it with her shield, blasting the sword from the warrior’s hands as she activated Shattering Riposte. Her sword hand flew up with enhanced speed, driving her blade through the warrior’s armpit and across their chest. The warrior was dead on his feet.

Dark energy gathered around her as she felt her weight increase substantially. Sasha was driven to her knees by an unknown pressure that she could not resist. Through her blurred vision, she could see Void channeling a skill in her direction. She was fucked.

Liam, seeing Sasha’s predicament, loosed an Aimed Shot directly at Void’s heart.