“Some monsters are descendants of the local fauna. Some monsters are just the stuff of nightmares.”

~Excerpt from a research document found in a disaster exclusion zone

A snake wider than a car rose from out of the water, its scales absorbing the sunlight instead of reflecting it. The mutant hissed, keeping its angular face trained on Ken and Walters.

The teen stood stock still, unable to move a muscle under the monster's murderous gaze. It slithered further out of the water, trailing closer to the frozen teen.

Devin was running towards them, but even with all his abilities, he wouldn’t make it in time. The giant snake hissed, poised to strike—

—Until gunfire from Walter that alighted against its face. The monster seemed annoyed by the bullets, but it served its purpose. The two gained a moment of safety, however fleeting.

When Walter’s rifle clicked empty, the snake turned back, training its yellow eyes on him. The corporal gasped as an otherworldly force slammed into his body, forcing him still.

A toxic green magic circle manifested around the snake, summoning an arrow made of liquid that corroded the air it touched. The arrow pointed at both the teen and soldier.

Yet, Devin barreled into the monster before it could launch its payload, knocking it off balance as if they were the same weight class. The poison arrow zipped through the air, threading the needle of space between Ben and Walters before crashing into the forest hundreds of feet behind them.

Power surged through Devin's body, yet it was different than usual. Instead of his strength enduring along with his anger, it left as quickly as it came.

Of course, I picked the wrong time to try out a new deck. Devin admonished himself, but it was too late. The surroundings grew blurry as the slippery bastard thrashed in Devin’s grasp, smashing him against the rocky bay until it realized that he wasn’t letting go.

A rush of water forced his eyes closed. The warm shallow waters quickly turned cold and dark which made him finally let go.

Devin pried his eyes open, yet he saw nothing but muddy water. Even the shoreline was gone, concealed by the cloudy terrain. The snake slithered deeper into the lake, but Devin couldn’t stay underwater much longer. His lungs whined for air, begging him to open his mouth by the second.

So he ignored the mutant, heaving powerful strokes towards the vague light of the surface. Gasping and coughing, it took Devin a moment to notice that the mutant had dragged a couple hundred feet into the lake. Still, even from that distance, Devin could see the twins and soldiers buzzing at the shore, yelling and waving to get his attention.

Heaven’s Lookout chimed in his head once more, this time conveying a sense of unavoidable dread through its tones.

Devin swirled around in the water, but it was too late. Rough scales caressed his feet before he was yanked back underwater.

Water rushed past his face again, but for far longer than it did previously. The light in the water faded to a murky darkness blinding Devin in every sense—

—Except for his supernatural one.

Auras of all sizes grated against his awareness, but he held his [focus] on the densest, most powerful one. It circled him once, twice before surging at him from behind.

A red light spawned in that void, materializing into a giant, opaque boar. Boar’s Charge. Devin mentally declared, throwing extra fuel toward his conjuration.

The boar roared and bounded through the water as if it was running on solid ground. It plowed into the monster, giving Devin the space to swim away.

His strokes and kicks became more powerful as he forced more stamina into Explosive Strength to magnify its passive effect. His muscles snapped with power as he propelled himself up and out of the water. Devin flew out of the lake's surface like a dolphin, greedily sucking in a breath of air before he dove back into the water, his course corrected back to the shore.

But he wasn’t alone.

The huge, black snake was right behind him, barely disturbing the water as it slithered towards Devin. One moment, the snake closed the distance from fifty feet to thirty and in the next, it cut that to just a mere five.

Get off my ass, you freak! Devin mentally screamed, unable to spare his breath. He desperately channeled his arcanium into his Side Deck to manifest a piece of equipment.

The snake's scales glowed green as it approached. It opened its mouth and revealed its fangs, each tooth longer than his arm and gleaming with a toxic light.

It snapped its jaws shut around Devin’s ankle, but it was of no use; he was already gone. Devin was back on shore.

A wet Red Cap

Devin looked back, seeing its yellow eyes pierce through him before sinking back into the water. He shuddered. If it had gotten me, I would’ve been at the bottom of the lake by now.

“Are you okay?” “Oh my god, are you alright?” “Thanks for saving my life! Thank you!” The four crowded around Devin, but he pushed them back.

“Get back! It's coming!” Devin pushed them away from the water, in time to back away from the monster that slithered onto the rocky beach.

Tons of water splashed onto the ground as the titanic viper displayed its size and girth. It flicked its tongue at the group, two toxic green circles shining behind it.

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“Scatter!” Devin yelled.

Everyone followed his lead as the two poison arrows were launched towards the group. The soldiers scattered to the left, while the twins dipped to the right, leaving Devin to keep heading straight. The gambit worked, a little too successfully, as both continued to shoot towards him.

A flex of his will sent another surge of stamina into Explosive Strength, raising his power another degree in half a second. A twist of his ankle sent him to his immediate right, escaping the arrow’s path.

He heaved a sigh of relief, but his breath caught in his throat as pain exploded through his chest. The passive ability wasn’t meant to be overcharged, and the card paid the price for it by extracting itself from his Side Deck back to his vault, damaging it and himself along the way.

Unfortunately, Devin was so caught up in the sudden pain and emptiness that he missed the long black tail exit the water and whip across the rocky beach.

Scales slashed into his body as the tail bigger than his torso smashed against Devin’s side, sending him tumbling across the beach.

First, he was staring at the ground, then his perspective suddenly flipped to show the clear, blue sky. His addled mind admired its beauty before he slammed into the ground head-first. His body rolled like a ragdoll, stopping in a heap of limps and bloody mess.

I gotta get up. He told himself, begging his body to get up. Move, damn it. MOVE!

The others were floored, the sheer presence of the monster driving them into the ground without Devin there to soak up its attention. It casually slithered through the frozen group, unbothered by such weaklings. It only had eyes for the most troublesome prey furthest away.

He activated his magic circle’s focus, increasing his regeneration. MOVE!

The black snake crept closer to Devin, its fangs glowing with the same poisonous energy as its conjured arrows, but a hail of gunfire punched into its back, making it turn back. It rounded its head towards them to lunge at the party—

Explosive Strength and Last Stand Vaulted

Rage Equipped

—only to be stopped halfway as if its tail was nailed to the ground. It lurched from its momentum, plunging its fangs into the ground by accident, turning the rocks black from the venom. It looked back to see Devin not only stand back up, but hold it back while glowing, light radiating off him in droves as he activated the effect of his circle and used it to fuel the card he switched back into his main deck.

He smiled as the snake circled back to finish him off.

Rage gave him more power than Explosive Strength ever did, allowing him to hold the monster back. Heat and steam poured off his body in droves, driving him to hold the monster back.

Once it was far from his team, he gladly let go, using Dewey’s blue ring to empower another card.

Synergy Detected!

Big Bertha’s Blitz

(Rage)(Boar’s Charge)(Wrath)

With a massively increased power score, Boar’s Charge surged with incredible momentum. The snake seemed to hesitate, but in the face of the unstoppable force, it decided to plunge its fangs into his boar.

It would’ve worked against any real monster, but it was nothing against a conjuration.

The giant snake was gored onto Bertha's tusks as the conjuration charged down the rocky beach, but the beast wasn't dead yet. Despite it's wounds, it slipped out of the boar's tusks, nearly escaping.

I can't let it get free! The pain clouded Devin's mind, but [focus]'d through it. He grasped at the card with his arcanium and used his wrath-filled will to force the boar to change directions.

One second, the snake barely squeezed past the charging death machine and the next, the red conjuration vanished. The snake acted decisively, immediately speeding towards Devin. Poison arrows converged onto its snout to form a humongous spear as it aimed to blow Devin apart. It came so swiftly that Devin only had enough time to widen his eyes.

Except, it was then the boar reappeared on its right, less than a yard away, with every bit of velocity it had before. The conjuration crashed into the beast like a train into a car, not even stopping as it crushed the giant snake to death. Bertha roared as it threw the monster's body to the ground and stomped on it for good measure.

His body went still as he witnessed the snake mutant being easily torn in half by his conjuration. Once it was over, he gladly dismissed the boar, unable to stop the pain and exhaustion from sending him to the ground.

With the mutant dead, the four were free to move, and the first thing Jenkins, Ken, and Ben did was run towards Devin. Walters was too busy concerning himself with making sure the monster was dead, as its ripped-apart body squirmed in the dirt.

“Dev! Are you okay, Devin?!”

“I’m fine.” He huffed out. “I just need to catch my breath.” He refused their offers to help him get up, content with laying on the ground. Several notifications flashed in his face.

Achievement—Underwater Gladiator

Fight an aquatic boss

underwater and win

Reward: Boon—Breath of the Ocean

Warning!

Arcanium and Stamina below 50%

Life below 25%

LIfe Shock has been inflicted

Warning!

Explosive Strength has been damaged

Repair before use

Affinity with Rage and

Boar’s Charge increased

Nature’s Elite has been activated

and is now on cooldown

(3 minutes)

Life Shock has dissipated

“Aghhh, I feel like shit.” His head pounded, and his body ached all over, but he was lucky to be still able to talk, let alone move. A hit like that should’ve paralyzed him from the neck down, but all he had to do was sacrifice some arcanium and a minute of time.

“Of course you do, that snake threw you across the ground like a rock.” Ken said, to which Ben smacked him across the arm.

“I’m just glad you’re alright.” Jenkins pressed a hand to her kevlar to calm her beating heart. “What do you got over there, Walters?” She yelled at her partner, who was investigating the monster's corpse closely.

“...Nothing. Just a dead snake.”

Devin frowned, “Hey, get away from my kill. I can tell there’s something ther—”

The air suddenly changed. It was a small, barely noticeable, shift in the atmosphere, but the difference between now and then was like night and day. The temperature dropped several degrees, hovering over an unsettling chill. The previously clear sky was littered with dark clouds, snatching the sunlight and replacing it with rays of shadow.

But it was more than that; Devin felt something distinctly evil lurk in the periphery of his awareness. He shook his head back and forth, looking around him at every angle, but it was useless. The beach was clear of any living thing beyond them.

The evil presence was further away, hidden in the dark, eerie woods that suddenly seemed a lot closer. A rotten stench that had nothing to do with the monster's corpse wafted through the air.

The soldiers and twins yelled in confusion and fear, but Devin was fully aware, trying to find the monster that was at their necks. He just had to lay eyes on it, and then he could confront it like he did everything the last couple of days. He could win—

Horror radiated from his back. Cold, dry hands with fetid darkness for flesh reached from behind him, holding his head still. The other four looked at him in fear, their eyes stuck on the figure looming over him while their feet were glued to the ground. Arcanium squirmed and wiggled its way into his body, invading every inch of it.

The last speck of wrath floating in his deckspace exploded into a final flare, pushing back at the insidious energy. His eyes glowed with a crimson light, burning the dark limbs away.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” He screamed in fury, banishing the ghastly hands from his psyche. The horror shrieked, retreating into the shadowy woods.

Watching. Waiting.

“What the fuck was that?!” Jenkins whispered.

“That wasn’t the monter’s main body.” Devin huffed out from the ground struggling to stand. “We need to get out of here before—”

It was too late.

The creepy woods were definitely closer to them than it was when they first got out here, while the silence was deafening, as if reality itself watched with bated breath, hoping the horror wouldn’t notice.

Such efforts were for naught. Shadows flitted through the woods surrounding the lake. Only a few at first, but gradually ramped up until the forest was filled with a marching army, the monstrous soldiers’ eyes glowing with a deathly pale light. A boot stepped out of the shadows, revealing a skeleton covered from head to toe in leather armor, brandishing a gnarly ax covered in dried black blood. That was only the first of many, the rest of the skeleton soldiers gathering in a tight-knit formation outside the tree line.

“What do we do?” Ben asked in a quiet voice.

Devin’s eyes twisted nonstop, searching for a way out, but it was for naught. The majority of the forces were grouped at the entrance to the lake, while they were surrounded from every other angle. He even saw a skeleton mob on the other side of the lake. Running through the forest isn’t an option either; that nightmare thing would probably tear us apart as soon as we got into its domain.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Devin didn’t know what to do. He eyed the timer at the edge of his vision, seeing he had two minutes left till his cooldown was over. An eternity in actual battle.

“We can’t push back. We need to fight.” Devin told everyone, preparing his pain-ridden body for another fight.

Following some unspoken signal, the skeletal warriors all charged at once, the rumbling of their boots shaking the ground replacing their soundless roar.