“No,” Alex yell echoes the burning rage in my heart. There had been a couple of deaths in the large attacks on the village, but this is different. It was right in front of us.

He is a fully prepared and talented level 90 fighter. He was…, now he is nothing, not anymore.

He just lays there on the ground with a crushed skull that I would never be able to survive, not even with my entire Aether pool and all my wishes.

Everyone takes a step back and looks incredulously at him after the battle. My perception field is fully trained on the beast some distance away and I can see the cuts the metal helmet left behind in its mouth which bring a grim smile to my face.

From the ground, I extend and spring the roots in the stop it paused at managing to grab all four paws in the first real chance to do that since the start of the fight. Around it, I summon all six of my fireball turrets and charge them for a moment before shooting them, the beast manages to extricate itself from the roots tying it to the ground.

Alex heads in with little care for his own wellbeing and Richard’s pleas for him to get back are all ignored. He dances at much slower speeds than the lion can move at, but each of the lion’s blows on his spear just adds momentum to his next strike as he spins and spins.

Though in the end, even as talented as he is the stat and skill difference is too overwhelming, even with the help of the 14 other combatants still in the fight.

He rolls on the ground over and over, to redirect himself and bleed off the momentum that the lion tries to impart as everyone tries to keep the pressure up so the lion won’t be able to focus fully on Alex. The only way we have to protect him.

The beast keeps up the pressure and drives Alex further and further in a corner seemingly no longer caring for its and his stamina and mana.

Alex tries his best to keep himself alive until finally, he is knockdown. For the briefest of moments the horror of what is to come hits all of us, but I feel something unnatural wafting off Greg.

His spear begins to glow with his skill use, but there is something more and as he hesitates for an instant, I can tell from the from my perception field gets from his muscles that he did something and he is barely holding himself together. He is more liable to trip over himself than to succeed in his attack, but fortunately, he thrusts his spear forward and the lion chooses to dodge instead of heading in and trying to maul Alex.

It manages to move enough that the attack leaves only a but a deep furrow on its hips almost hitting bone, instead of a severe injury or a killing blow. As Greg heads in for a second attack, the Lion sprints away easily breaking the shield dome around us as I withdraw my will.

No sense in trying to keep it contained if it wanted to escape. A decision that is proved wise as after it runs only a hundred meters, Greg falls on his face with twitching and uncontrolled muscle movements until he turns off whatever skill or technic he just used.

I accompany the beast as far as I can with the network underground but after less than a mile, it leaves.

Richard settles the flying craft on the round and we all climb, though one of us doesn’t do so in his own power and I make a coffin out of roots before placing him in the inner world.

“What..with the fu.. did you do to him.” Asks one of the more broken-up fighters. Apparently, they were friends or something.

“I put him in in a special place,” I say unsure of how to explain without seeming insensitive.

Inside the flying craft, with a flourish of my hand, I open a portal to the inner world and take the coffin out, placing it in the middle of the craft.

I wonder at the fact that my portals are so very different that so many of the varieties that were found in fiction.

If the coffin had touched it, it wouldn’t sheer in half more easily than any earthly knife, it would just encounter a resistance that would stop its hand from going further. Even hitting it at high speed would probably not be too dissimilar from hitting a padded metal ring crushing the wood instead of leaving it with an impossibly sharp cut.

I halt the useless workings of my mind paying attention to the friend unsure of what to do to help him. Behind his helmet tears start to fall, as two of his companions keep him company.

-----------------------------------

Meeting back at the village.

“No, we won’t be going out again with anyone that can’t hold their own and a lot stronger, with better strategy or better magical support.”

Merlin looks up at Greg’s assertions but doesn’t say anything.

“It’s nothing against you, but except for Nash’s shields that stopped the beast from weaving in and out at will or any full-speed charges, nothing you two did was very useful. Not that we were doing much, but the beast is just too smart and fast for most types of magic to be effective.”

“He is right,” I say.

“I know, doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Merlin grumbles.

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“And it doesn’t even give decent experience after it is spread over so many fighters.” Says one of the fighters on the lion hunt. “Just three hundred points. Solo hunting wolves gives better Exp than that.”

“Only the attacks on the village are a real source of Exp at this point. Anything else is way too slow.” Charlies says.

“Did you find out anything about that?” He asks.

“Yeah, the attack is going to come together at the end of the month.”Says Charlie.

“Why? That doesn't make sense that it would change.”

“The people we talked with were also confused. But even with complete knowledge of other integrations using the same style as our own world, there are always quirks and it seems this is one of them.” Continues Charlie.

“That is going to make things harder on us, consecutive attacks.” Comments Greg.

“For one side, yes, but at least we won’t have to worry about anyone missing the attack, it’s every 30 days.” Says Richard.

Charlie interrupts, “Later you can all read more on that, there are more immediate concerns.”

“Nope, there aren’t.” Says Richard. “We just won’t send anyone else until we can stand toe to toe with the beasts.”

“And just leave everyone else to fend for themselves?” Asks Merlin.

“I know it seems callous, but what choice do we have?” Says Richard.

“There are so many changes that we can make, maybe even sending fewer people out could change the dynamic.” I chime in.

“How?” Asks Charlie.

“If we don’t have to worry about anyone else, just fully focusing on the beast, we can be more aggressive. I don’t think it will be worth it at our current power level, but when we get a couple of people strong enough for that….” Says Greg.

“What was it that you did in the last few moments?” Richard asks Greg.

“Something I have been trying to integrate into my fighting style, but it’s not ready. The skills conflict with each other and I lose most of my dexterity and have trouble controlling my movements.”

“Well,” starts Charlie. “We will need to come with something, neither inaction nor losing anyone else are options. Still, at the current pace, we have 2 days before another beast comes in our general direction.”

Alex moves off downcast and as I head behind him, Greg calls out to me.

“Ohh, I was thinking about your powers, I just need three more levels to get to 100 and you can help me with that.”

“How?” I ask with an inking of his idea.

“You can search square kilometers in seconds correct?”

“Yeah.”

“And your network can easily cover the entire area that the wolves run through around our village.”

“Oh, I see where this is going. I think I can do even better, with the right bait, I can probably not only tell you where to find the closest pack of wolves but also lead them in your direction.”

“I like the sound of that.” He says with the biggest grin in the instance.

After another minute talking with Greg, I go look for Alex. I find him on the training ground right outside Richard’s office. This time there are only a few people around, but as I’m about to move in, I stop and keep myself away.

“Stupid… stupid....” I hear faintly. Echoing the sentiment that was trying to burrow from the depths of my mind and heart, though I stamped with vigor on it. It would do me no good to kick myself too much.

He continues with the Aether cycle around him, now more turbulent than ever before and I realize why he seems off. He was improving, but not at the same pace as before. At least for the last couple few weeks, maybe more. He must have hit level 99 a while ago and that stalled his improvements.

That’s is unfortunate.

Backpedaling I leave him to his own devices. I have a feeling he needs to work on this himself.

--------------------------

Alex POV

Move. Flow from one form to the next as I spin and spin, harnessing momentum from each movement and inputting it in the next one. Recovering every iota of speed and energy while wasting nothing.

Stupid skill cap.

Nobody had come even close to figuring out how to surpass the cap and take a skill beyond it. So I spend hours through the night and into the next day until I’m too tired to continue in the frantic nonstop rhythm of my training. Aether and mana flow around me, as I try to eke out every small improvement that I can, but each step forward in my spearcraft is hard fought instead of the effortless improvements from the start.

I start to slow as I reach over 24 hours nonstop, but instead of going to sleep, I push forward. I push forward losing my fine control even while putting every bit of effort that I can. In my mind, there is only my goal.

I will break this limit if it’s the last thing I do.

I will break…

I will…

Fall down.

I come to a couple of hours later in a hard bunk wondering how I got here. Looking out at the other people training, I assume that someone dragged me inside instead of letting me stay out there. Luckily nobody got injured and needed this bunk to wait for the medics.

Being a little more careful is probably in order and so I head out to eat breakfast and recharge before getting back to it.

---------------------------

Nash’s POV

I try to ignore the downcast demeanor of the friend to the dead fighter. The one injury that no amount of healing could make a difference on. But as long as I keep my perception field up and at maximum range, I have no real choice and my thoughts always turn back to him.

Is there anything that I could do? Absolutely anything?

The scene plays in my mind over and over with a thousand small and large decisions I could have done differently. But nothing I can do now is going to change the past so I start work on the one thing that comes to mind. Something that won’t bring his friend back, but at least it would be familiar.

I pull from the accumulated thousands of samples of the flora in the instance and all my new expertise.

Even with the two extra shipments from the Merchant over the weeks, there was nothing that called out to me. It was mainly slightly different versions of the flora within a couple of hundred miles from our village instead of adding a lot more variety. A few ideas pop up for when I had the time, like working on mimicking a greater variety of foods and a few other endeavors, but there was nothing revolutionary like I had hoped. To make other fruits, both of the magical and the non-magical variety, I would have to improve my skill, not search for something external.

However, what I wanted to do right now is much simpler.

It didn’t have to be edible, it just needed to look nice, it just need to look like a flower.

Like a sculptor or a painter, I set out to make a few lilies.

-----------------------

“How the hell didn’t you hit level 100 after the very first attack that you went out on your own?” I ask Greg through the comm he is carrying.

“I had a silly notion in my head, but it doesn’t matter now. I doubt that I will unlock a better class than the basic ones, I’m just a big guy and that gave me a small advantage at the start.” He replies.

“You could have gotten the experience and waited.”

“I don’t know, that just sounds like such a temptation.”

“And you not useless, only good for leveling. You have your own talent.”

“No, have you seen Alex? That is a talented boy, I’m just a little lucky.”

“Man, nobody else can really compare to Alex, he is in a league of his own.”

“You are one to talk about it.” He grumbles.

I send my awareness out all the way from my hut as he continues to run.

“Turn a little to the north 800 meters to the pack.”

“Sure thing.” He says running in the direction I pointed him to.