No one made a noise as the Queen of the Forest shrugged off their trump-card and threw Gizmo aside.

Orion reached out mentally. He could feel the damage stored by Time Bomb—it was a vast well of power, waiting to be unleashed, but wasn’t enough to kill the boss outright. Everyone was down, and they had nothing left. Gizmo, their degenerate yet lovable companion, was dead.

A sound of metal-on-metal drew Orion’s attention.

Just in time, he turned to see Shadow getting to his feet. He stood on shaky legs, then reeled his arms back high over his head. He steadied himself for but a moment, then unleashed a Vicious Blow. It tore down at blistering speed, cutting a deep rent into the trunk of a tree. The Queen of the Forest flinched, and in that moment, Honeypot struck.

The tricky priest appeared out of Stealth directly behind the mantis, using his Chastise ability. Unable to dodge or resist the ability with her senses overwhelmed, the boss was stunned for four-seconds.

The party flew into action. Shadow sprinted for the Queen, armor clunking as he ran. Femera shot out of Arika’s pocket at full speed, ramming into the abdomen and deftly avoiding any of the spikes. Honeypot started slashing with his scimitar, aiming for the soft spots at the joints of the insect’s limbs.

Dozens of heads were snapping their teeth together just behind the scene, their necks fully extended and bodies getting closer by the second.

A tightness in Orion’s chest he hadn’t even noticed eased as Gizmo sat up abruptly. Little windscreen wipers protruded out of the top of his head, activating and clearing a thick layer of black soot that had been covering his light-up eyes. Underneath, his panels showed happy arches. He got to his feet and walked over to the mantis.

“You hurt so good, but you threaten Arika’s and Daddy’s existence.” He clenched a little metal fist. “You must die.”

Gizmo spun on the spot, legs planted and torso spinning violently. He outstretched his arms and punched the legs of the Queen of the Forest with every rotation. As Gizmo was Orion’s familiar, he could feel it doing little-to-no damage, but the conviction was still commendable.

Orion could feel the damage from Time Bomb ticking up as the party rained down attacks; it swelled and threaten to detonate with every passing hit.

Shadow reached the center of the forest at full sprint, the clang of his armor heralding his arrival. He leaped into the air at full speed, bracing his giant sword out in front of him with his full weight behind it.

“DRAGON SLAYER KICK!”

The tip of Shadow’s sword met the center of the Queen of the Forest’s chest. The tip slid in, followed by the rest of the sword. Light flooded out from the joints of the creature, and Time Bomb detonated.

Force rushed out from everywhere the light shone as the Queen of the Forest was executed from within. A sound exploded out, more felt than heard, as if a giant balloon burst. The Queen of the Forest’s body fell lifelessly to the floor, as did her remaining minions.

Orion breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hmmmmm.” Gizmo hummed. “Shadow, are you aware that was not, in fact, a kick?”

“Don’t worry about the details.” Honeypot brushed some soot off of Gizmo’s head and winked at him. “He’s just doing cool-rogue-shit.”

A world-announcement arrived.

World first announcement! The first world boss has been defeated! The Queen of the Forest has fallen, significantly weakening the forces of the Eclipse Forest! Congratulations to the Malignant Miscreants for their world-saving achievement!

Arika walked over to Orion and held out her hand. She helped him to his feet, and he leaned his weight on her as she helped him hobble toward the center of the clearing. His foot was almost completely returned now; the shape was there, but he could tell there were still some bones and muscle that hadn’t been restored yet.

Arika stumbled and Orion caught her, both leaning on each other.

“How did you know to distract her by damaging the trees?” she asked.

“She punished her own underlings for knocking down a tree, so I guessed she felt when the tree had been attacked by them. Why else would she have been there, in the outer forest?” Orion shrugged. “I figured blasting as many as possible with your explosion would be pretty overwhelming.”

Arika looked at him and pouted. “You’re pretty brilliant, you know that?”

“Thank you, but that was all you.” He smiled at her. “What was that last Explosion you used? That was way more powerful than usual, right?”

“I don’t actually know, but I felt like I could push a bit more power into it… I think that’s why I’m so exhausted now. It’s like a mini version of when you forced your ability, maybe? That time you teleported more than it should have been able to. I think it was like that.”

“Do you think the levels in the ability or the use of will had more impact?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Her forehead scrunched as she considered.

“Honestly, the use of will. I feel like my willpower has been getting stronger with every day. We’re constantly having to push our will into the things we do—it’s almost as if we’re being trained to do more with our abilities.”

Orion hadn’t considered that they were supposed to push more into the abilities after what happened to him. The side-effects had been severe, but what if he had just done it too soon, and they were designed to be augmented with strong willpower, eventually?

“And you call me brilliant.” He smiled as he turned to her. “I think you might be onto something—”

Orion cut off as an unparalleled wave of euphoria rushed from within him. Light spewed forth from his very being, and he felt the same power resonate from around him—originating from his friends, he realized.

The light vanished, and he opened his eyes. The feeling lingered, and he checked his notifications as it dissipated further.

You have advanced Portal from level 5 to level 6. Congratulations!

You have advanced Portal from level 6 to level 7. Congratulations!

You have advanced Portal from level 7 to level 8. Congratulations!

You have advanced Portal from level 8 to level 9. Congratulations!

You have advanced Swap from level 5 to level 6. Congratulations!

You have advanced Swap from level 6 to level 7. Congratulations!

You have advanced Swap from level 7 to level 8. Congratulations!

You have advanced Swap from level 8 to level 9. Congratulations!

You have advanced Time Bomb from level 1 to level 2. Congratulations!

You have advanced Time Bomb from level 2 to level 3. Congratulations!

You have advanced Time Bomb from level 3 to level 4. Congratulations!

Talk about gains, he thought. And Time Bomb went all the way to level four with a single use? These bonuses for having a party of four are crazy…

The notification continued.

You have successfully advanced from level 9 to level 10. Congratulations!

Alert! You have reached level 10, meaning that you are eligible for advancement to the next floor of this world. Find the priestess Miriam in the town of Valbrand to ascend.

“Miriam!” Honeypot declared. “I knew she was fishy!” He rubbed his chin and squinted in thought. “Just what is she up to…?”

Arika rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know about you guys, but my Explosion reached level ten, and Invoke went to level seven…”

Orion shared his advancements.

Shadow followed, telling them he had reached level eight in Silent Speed, and level nine in Vicious Blow. Honeypot had reached level nine in Stealth, and level seven in Chastise, though he was still making a show of suspecting Miriam.

Their attention was grabbed by a flash of light, and they turned to see the body of the mantis disintegrating as a chest appeared, flooding out the golden-light of legendary loot. Orion and Arika both glanced at each other, smiling at the relief of surviving, the growth, the loot, and the company.

Shadow ran to them, jumping between and essentially hauling them all to the chest.

“You can just loot it before us, Shadow.” Orion laughed. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“Nope. No way. We’re a team, and we all earned this loot!”

“You also could have just waited for us to hobble to it,” Arika said.

“I cannot wait a second longer!” Shadow replied as they reached the chest.

Orion reached down, opening the chest with his will.

You have received a LEGENDARY weapon! Crafted of the trees of the Eclipse Forest, this staff was created as a reward for the successful destruction of the Queen of the Forest.

Eclipse Staff of Time

Legendary

Two-handed Staff

+10 Intelligence

+15% Cooldown Reduction

This weapon is imbued with spatial magic, allowing the user to reduce the time between abilities.

Despite the fact that you are granted Intelligence by wielding this staff, I am obligated to inform you that you are still quite stupid.

Damn. Talk about a stat-stick…

Orion pulled out and inspected his new weapon.

It was a tall staff made of wood the same color and texture as the trees surrounding them. It twisted around itself, ending in a gnarled knot that was glowing a vibrant purple. He double-checked the stats, almost unbelieving of what the notification had told him. Smiling, he looked up at his friends, all of which were inspecting their new weapons.

Arika held a staff much like Orion’s, the only difference being a roaring flame instead of the purple glow at the head of the staff. She explained that it also gave +10 to Intelligence, and boosted all fire damage by twenty percent—as if she needed more damage.

Shadow held a deadly looking two-handed sword of green and silver. The double-edged blade looked like a long, silver leaf—but its appearance was where the similarity to a leaf ended. It gave +10 to Strength, and +2 to Speed.

Honeypot, well… Honeypot had the mantis’ scythe arm, and was whirling it around like the avatar of death himself. It was rigid and unmoving in the joints, and was a little thinner than the boss’ arm, but other than that, it was quite literally a scythe with an exoskeleton handle leading up to the very blade that had been on the Queen of the Forest’s body.

“It gives +10 to Agility! And +2 to Speed. Could you hold this for me, Shadow?” Honeypot handed him the scimitar he had looted from Felsteg. “We might get a pretty penny for it.”

Shadow didn’t appear to be listening to Honeypot. He accepted the proffered scimitar, storing it in his inventory. All-the-while, his eyes were locked on the two-handed sword in his other hand. He started slicing the air with it, a manic grin spreading across his face as he laughed maniacally.

Orion could feel that something had changed within Gizmo, so he asked the small robot what it was.

“Hmmm. Nothing of great significance… just this.” The top of his head popped open, and a small, whirring blade on an extendible-arm popped out.

“Nothing of great significance?” Honeypot’s eyes bulged. “You have a buzz-saw on an extendo-arm coming out of your fuckin’ head, man! Where do I get one?”

“This is the result of my master advancing. I do not believe the human anatomy would survive the addition of a mechanized saw to your cranium, but I cannot say it is not possible.”

“Great. I thought I was happy with the scythe, but how can I be content knowing that exists, and I don’t have it?” Honeypot gestured at Gizmo as the attachment jabbed in different directions.

Orion looked at his own weapon again, inspecting the vibrant purple glow that it was emitting. His vision darkened around the edges, and he thought it was an odd effect for the staff to have.

“Orion…” Arika said, sounding far away. “I don’t feel so good.”

Orion looked up to see her leaning against her staff for support.

“Are you—” Orion started, but cut off as he felt his own world spinning.

He watched as Arika fell to the ground and saw Shadow and Honeypot standing just as uneasily.

His mind felt like molasses, his thoughts thick and slow.

He fell to his knees as his vision blackened further. He tried to fight it, to push through the feeling with sheer will, but his vision went black, and his mind blank.

He was unconscious when his body hit the floor.