Brock

I felt healing power pulse through my veins and I sat up quickly breathing in deeply. My heart was pounding erratically and my eyes were darting back and forth uncontrollably. Where was I?

I felt someone touch my back and whirled around. It was Emily, hands stretched out covered in glowing green light. When the light touched me I flinched back instinctively. A cool gentle power calmed down my heart and I forced my eyes to steady. I was safe. I wouldn’t die to that horrible creature.

I heard a screech and froze. It couldn’t be… could it? I watched as the beetle overlord crashed through the trees heading straight for me. Its eyes narrowed when it saw me and what could only be called a smirk spread across its hideous face. I wanted to gag and scream at the same time. There was no way I could fight this thing on my own again. I looked to the side and I remembered that Emily was here too. At least I wasn’t completely alone.

The beetle hovered a couple inches above the ground, wings beating furiously. I gritted my teeth and stood on shaky legs. I would fight this thing even if it spelled the death of me. I heard a shockwave of air and suddenly Minya was in front of the beetle slamming her leg into its face. It roared in pain and slammed all four of its fists down.

Minya created a platform of air and ghosted backwards, avoiding the blow. I was shocked, when had she gotten here?

Just as I was gawking over Minya’s sudden appearance I heard a blast and suddenly Drake was there too. He briefly turned reddish and his fists elongated into claws as he slashed at the beetle.

It roared again and then turned on Drake lashing out with its four arms and screeching as it slammed Drake away.

Drake tumbled away, quickly recovering and running back into the fray. Minya and Drake proceeded to juggle the beetle back and forth. Finally the beetle decided it wasn’t worth it and started to rev up its wings.

Was it trying to get away? Was it running? For the first time since seeing the beetle overlord, I felt hope. Hope that maybe we can get through all of this madness and be okay. That was when the beetle exploded.

Not literally. But black and green miasma started to roll off of the disgusting thing in waves covering both Minya and Drake before they could react.

They both suddenly locked up and started to scream as their bodies started to shift into a dark greenish color. I yelled and grabbed a rock near my feet. Hurling the rock at the creature I hoped for the best. The miasmic power was covering the ground near the beetle like a mist, preventing anything from getting too close.

The rock flew true and struck the beetle square in the horn- only to bounce off with a tink. I felt the blood drain out of my face. With all of my power I was nothing compared to this mighty bug.

The beetle screeched at me and sent a bolt of miasmic green power directly at me. Seconds before it could hit me, a golden and green magic wall appeared in front of me and the bolt slammed into it. The lighter green of the wall clashed with the darker green of the bolt, sending light reflecting all around the nearby trees.

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The beetle looked up and snorted, before suddenly turning away and soaring off. After all that it just… left? I was confused for all of two seconds before Kent and Layton walked through the trees, a goblin with two shields stalking behind them.

I shouted out. “Kent! Layton! Look out! There is a goblin behind you!” I yelled at them pointing behind them and picking up a rock, running in the direction of the creature.

Kent, Layton and the goblin all turned around looking in the direction I had pointed in. They both looked over the goblins head and turned back to me, confused.

Layton called out to me. “I don’t see any goblins beside Plikt. Are you sure that you saw one?” She asked.

I looked at her blankly. “Who is Plikt?” I asked her, lost on what was happening.

Kent pointed his finger at the goblin who was casually holding its shields, looking around curiously at all of us and the remaining miasma mist floating languidly above the ground. “That’s Plikt. He is a pretty chill guy and is really good at wielding those shields of his. He is also devoted to Layton with all of his heart and soul.” Kent told me offhandedly.

I was confused. “Plikt is Laytons… Boyfriend?” I asked hesitantly. I wasn't judging but… that was not something I would expect from her.

Layton blushed furiously and shook her head rapidly. “NO! He is my bodyguard. I may or may not have charmed him a little too much and now he calls me his queen and would give up his life for me.” She told me in a rush.

Plikt joined in the conversation. “Queen is amazing, Queen is gorgeous, and Queen is smart!” He all but raved.

I slowly turned to Emily. “Are you understanding any of this?” I asked her.

She just looked at Plikt with interest. “Not really, but he has a very big connection with mana, that's for sure. He also seems to be radiating large amounts of energy from what looks like his soul.” She told me looking at the goblin curiously.

I looked at him too. “What does that mean?” I asked her.

She stopped staring at Plikt and turned to me. “I think that it means that he has a high connection with the fundamental laws of the universe, like dao. It is probably a lot easier for him to comprehend dao than we can.” She told me glancing back at the goblin.

Plikt puffed up his chest. “Plikt is the greatest. Plikt is so greatest that Plikt can speak and also fight well. Plikt is also handsome.” he told us sagely.

I smiled at him. I loved the way he talked. It reminded me of my little brother. I sagged at that thought. My brother could be dead for all I knew. I really hoped he had gotten a good class and was thriving somewhere but I doubted it. If the easier modes were anything like ours than the chances of him dying were very high.

I turned back to the group and Drake started talking. “Guys. Remember that minimap that we got during the first night? Well I figured out how to use it and now we can see where we all are at all times.” He then proceeded to show us how to pull it up, how to scroll around and how to zoom in and out.

Kent spoke up. “Next order of business is to get strong enough that we can beat that beetle overlord. It has been causing too many problems.”

I agreed. I wanted that thing dead.

Brocks stat sheet

Brock M. Smith Level: 24 (F-Grade) Race: Human-Giant Bloodline: Human 13 pints, Giant 1 pint Class: Smasher Stats: Body: 266 Mind: 42 Spirit: 98 Traits: Evolution(Human),Giants Body(Giant) Skills: Heavy Combat(Giant+Human), Smash(Giant) Spells: Weak Rapid Growth, Weak Giants Shout Path: Path of Indomitable Strength Dao: Dao Seed of True Strength