“When do they end? These trials and tribulations?”

~ Quote from The Burdens of Immortality, by Buddha

The roars and cries of the monster army were minuscule compared to the weight of the elite bosses’ presence alone, but it was no less menacing to watch a literal tidal wave of monsters charge towards them, doubly so while rendered motionless.

A thud shook the dirt wall behind them. The figure leaped from the wall and over the two armies, screaming the whole way.

“GET IT TOGETHER!” They yelled at the defenders while throwing themselves at the elite boss duo.

The ensuing melee was so fast, so powerful, that the monsters near their wake were crushed to mince meat. Not that monsters care for their losses; the ranks were quickly filled as they continued to stampede toward the town.

Another booming voice let out a command. “FIRE!” Orangish-red light exploded over the town. Numerous balls, bolts, arrows, bullets, and missiles made of fire were conjured in the air.

“SHOOT!” The volley of magic was released all at once, painting the sky red and white with divine retribution.

The approaching horde of monsters ran headlong into the flurry of fire magic. Bright explosions ripped across the battlefield, disrupting the monster's charge for just a moment.

One moment was all they needed.

“FLOOD! FLASH!” The booming voice issued two more commands. Literal tons of water manifested over the army, while jagged icicles tore through the air and tore through entire ranks of beasts and monsters. Rain fell into the sky, making the ground the monsters ran over wet, muddy, and slippery. The army slowed even further.

Devin expected a flash of light to follow, to maybe blind the enemies. Instead, the nearby clouds darkened. Sparks jumped through the air as enough arcanium to eclipse the battlefield three times over was condensed into a single card. A kaleidoscope magic circle imprinted itself over the clouds, and then the world flashed.

A fork of lightning bigger than a building tore into the horde, launching dirt and bodies alike into the air. A peal of thunder reverberated through the town, washing over the combatants. The muddy ground perpetuated the electricity, spreading the volts of energy to further cripple the enemy.

Two of the strongest signatures Devin had sensed disappeared in the violent elemental clash, as well as around a third of the monsters. Instead of an uncountable number of enemies, there were only a few thousand. Still nearly incomprehensible to Devin, but the difference was noticeable. The monsters didn’t have enough numbers to surround Bainbridge. There were entire sections of Bainbridge’s western wall that were monster-free.

It’s working, we just need to keep going. Devin grinned, but immediately frowned when he noticed where the majority of the forces were going. “Why the hell—”

“Shut up, and get ready!” One of the woman arcanists said, brandishing her glowing sword. “Walters’s too busy to protect us.” She jabbed in the direction of their fearless leader, who was wrestling a bear taller than Devin’s house and winning.

Devin brushed the image out of his mind, concentrating on the approaching wave of beasts. He stared at the unbridled rage upon the mutated beasts’ faces, trying not to let their rabid expressions get to him. He kept his nerves still until one of the stronger presences leaped from the horde it rode behind. Devin roared, leaping over the defenders' heads to meet it.

A goblin twice as big as the rest of its compatriots rode an elite elk, pulling back an arrow with its disjointed bow. Unable to move in the air, Devin moved his spear just in time to block the arrow—

—which immediately threw him back with its immense force. Two rings flashed as Devin sailed through the air. Two cards bridge the gap between the two rings, creating a new ability all together. Wrath clouded his mind, dyeing his vision red. Two things clattered against the red armor billowing over the Berserker’s body, making him even more angry.

The earth shook when he jumped over his pathetic supposed teammates. The Berserker didn’t need a weakness such as help.

His power was explosive, unstoppable; his might unparalleled, boundless.

The air shook as the Berserker’s ebony spear cut through the arrows that constantly tried to pelt it. Not that such puny weapons could leave a dent in his armor; it was the principle of the thing. It was like annoying mosquitos constantly attempting to draw a drop of blood.

Not on his watch.

A slam of the Berserker’s foot sent it flying full tilt at the elite elk and its hobgoblin rider. The poor thing realized the pointlessness of his meager arsenal and pulled a rusted machete to meet him.

Such disgustingly weak armament would break to pieces against the Berserker’s power combined with the Spear of Fear.

In his arrogance, the Berserker failed to notice the ground shake until he took another step to close the distance between him and his foes, but by then it was too late.

The surrounding ground sank ten feet, dragging in mud and sand that wrapped around the Berserker’s legs with unnatural strength. Without the space to wind up his body, the Berserker couldn’t leverage its explosive power.

The mighty Berserker had been reduced to a rat caught in a trap.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Devin started to think properly once again just in time to manipulate the red, conjured armor to cover his entire body. The hobgoblin had its mount back away to a safe distance from the sinkhole as it constantly pulled ammunition from its empty quiver, blasting arrow after arrow coated with nasty effects.

A series of spells shot towards the hobgoblin, but an enormous, armored, black ant burrowed up like a whale breaching the ocean, absorbing the elemental effects with his carapace before falling back to the ground, raising a curtain of dust into the air.

Devin infused arcanium into [seize], clearing the atmosphere of dust, only to see an arrow slipping past his armor without a hint of resistance. He was able to instinctively slip his weapon’s shaft underneath the bolt, but again, it phased through his weapon like it wasn’t even there, slamming right into his left shoulder.

He yelled in pain. A fire exploded in his chest that fueled the storm-gray circle that flashed into existence, glinting with a crimson light.

“Boar’s Charge!” Devin declared, his ring spinning in overdrive to imbue it with an extraordinary amount of energy all at once. The image of the boar superimposed over reality, fighting for the right to exist in the same space as the mud pit Devin was trapped in.

The boar roared, pushing back the bounds of reality just enough to let Devin slip through the gap it created. Its wrathful light dimmed a bit, but the conjuration squealed, letting its summoner know it could still keep going.

“GO!” Devin commanded, pulling the arrow out of his shoulder and ignoring the wound, sure it would regenerate soon.

The boar reared into the air, its reverberating squeals promising death upon its master’s enemies.

The ground shook as Devin followed after the boar with the last dregs of his Berserker’s Rampage-enhanced strength. The hobgoblin panicked, trying to get its elk mount to turn around instead of meeting the conjured boar head-on as it intended.

The rider attempted to flee, but with his final second with combo-amplified strength, Devin took a bounding step with his spear poised to be launched, [focus]’ing on the hobgoblin's back as he imbued several skills into the weapon.

A swing of his arm sent the bone spear flying, zipping through the air straight into the monster’s back. The weapon's momentum dragged the monster back, pinning it to the ground.

The elite elk succumbed to its rabid instincts, going berserk once its master died. It slammed its horns into Devin’s conjured boar over and over again. Although the conjuration dissipated in the clash, it stopped the beast just long enough for Devin to catch up, [seize]’ing his spear back into his hand.

The beast barely got to raise its head before Devin stabbed it straight in the eye. It lurched in panic and pain, but that quickly stopped once Devin twisted and wrenched his spear free after a couple of brutal tries.

Devin lashed out with Collect Potential and [seize], collecting every resource he could deposit into his vault before he turned around and activated Rage with his magic circle. The surge of power allowed him to catch up to the elite ant and its hobgoblin rider, which left a cloud of dust in their wake.

The monstrous rider pulled a bow that looked just as worthless as its ally’s, but Devin didn’t let that fool him. He avoided the arrows like the plague, not bothering to block them whether they seemed similar to that ghostly arrow, or not.

The elite insect plowed through spells and traps as if they weren’t even there while the hobgoblin increased its rate of fire, launching a barrage of arrows so as to not give Devin even a chance to close the distance.

They were getting pretty close to the defense line when Devin got enough space to launch his spear at the monster just as he did before, except the monster managed to block the blow with a machete, albeit barely. The blow launched the hobgoblin into the air; a mistake Devin sought to capitalize.

The moment’s urgency drove him to use Rage in concert with Explosive Strength instead of passively letting the two cards work together.

Rage + Explosive Strength

(Nature’s Spearhead)(Wrath)

=

Extreme Blitz

Extreme Blitz(Combo)

Dynamic

A smoldering storm is bound to explode

Cantrip—Based on POW

Instantaneous increase in velocity

The power in his body compressed unlike anything he’s ever felt. It was more than his muscles coiling like a spring—growing taut like bent metal. It was the wrathful indignation in his soul, screaming for retribution. It lent its raging potency to the very fabric of reality his body existed on.

The chaotic cacophony around Devin turned into a mumbling silence as the world turned gray and came to a near standstill. Devin’s eyes flickered to the slow-moving people, beasts, and monsters, but didn’t linger. [Focus] pointed him forward, locking his attention on the hobgoblin-turned-prey.

The world blurred. One moment Devin was nearly 30 feet away, and in the next, he was right beside the monsters. A flex of [seize] slowly pulled his ebony spear back into his hand.

Devin saw fear on a monster’s face for the first time as its eyes widened. It tried to swing its misshapen weapon to block, but it was too slow. Another burst of arcanium powered into his newfound combo.

The world blurred once more, making Devin surge with his outstretched spear. His weapon punched directly through the monster's spine. It didn’t even have a chance to comprehend its impending death, the immediate collision with the wall of bodies stacked up over the night turned it into a bloody smear on top of already bloodied bodies.

Warning!

Life and Arcanium Below 50%

“Whoa, what the fuck?!” A voice yelled over the roars and screams, somehow managing to get past his ringing ears. He groaned, his previous anger forgotten as a headache blossomed behind his eyes and the back of his head.

He tried to turn his head to the voice, yet the motion sent him reeling back into the pile of blood, shit, fur, and scales. The floodlights overhead blinded him, stabbing even more pain into Devin’s head.

A gray ring manifested above him, pulsing in tune with his heart, healing him as a pair of hands fumbled to get him out of the disgusting pile of bodies. Worried squeaks echoed through his ringing ears while the person handling him jostled him even further.

A gush of nausea sent the contents of Devin’s stomach spilling on the ground, and over his helper's arms, who promptly dropped him. “EW! What the fuck, man?”

The healing waves of life from his magic circle soothed his headache, allowing him to open his eyes wider than a crack. The giant elite ant that Devin was so sure was going to plow straight through the defenders was currently being thrown around like a ragdoll by Walters. The silver armor arcanist pushed and tossed the beast back, giving the other defenders room to fight their own battles while knocking the giant insect away.

Its sharp pincers failed to find any purchase on the man’s armor, just as the rest of the beasts and monsters had done before it. Goddamn, I wonder what rank that equipment is.

Devin took a couple breaths to let the healing life energy do its work, looking over the battlefield all the while.

The monster horde was still relentlessly throwing themselves at the line of defense, but their numbers dwindled to the hundreds instead of the original. We’re winning. He grinned. There were only a few elites left, with a large distance in between them, and they all were being pushed back by entire teams of arcanists.

He kept looking around, but his attention kept falling to the battle between forces of nature in the distance.

The soldier who jumped at the elite bosses was still locked in a deadly skirmish against the crimson hobgoblin and the humongous panther. He had managed to separate the two from one another, but it seemed like he was worse off because of it. The crimson goblin was every bit of a heavy hitter as its colossus mount; both sent waves of force that rippled across the battlefield with their powerful movements.

Without any cards currently enhancing him, Devin could hardly see more than a stray afterimage or a flash of the soldier's huge greatsword. I’m pretty sure I’ll be more of a liability if I try to help. Devin [seize]’d his spear on the other side of the wall of dead animals and monsters, summoning his Red Cap to get closer to one of the elites on the other side of the battlefield.

At least he intended to.

As soon as he took the equipment out of a vault portal, and placed it on the top of his head, every goblin and hobgoblin looked in his direction. He felt an ominous premonition as multiple gazes prickled against his skin. Sweat dripped down his back, nervous at the sudden change in the monsters.

Multiple goblins abandoned their fights, some sacrificing weapons and even entire limbs to escape their current battles. All so they can converge onto Devin. He was about to use its ability to teleport away until a heavy aura slammed onto him, locking him in place—

—Right in the middle of an approaching mob of angry goblins.