At my side, Val staggered to her feet, readying herself for the battle ahead. On any normal day, a level 14 wolf—no matter the variant—would cause her no trouble. On a day where we had water being summoned into our stomachs… the stakes were a bit higher.

Of the two wolves approaching us, one cast its attention onto me, the other onto Val. It would be two one-on-one fights, then—excluding Lore’s three-on-one down the road. The wolves eyes glowed a gentle cyan colour, and as they snarled at us, lightning crackled around their bared fangs.

‘Right,’ I mumbled, between waves of water, ‘storm variant.’

The wolves came to a stop not ten paces from us, growling, their rear legs coiled and ready to spring forth. Val and I tried to steady ourselves, preparing for the fight ahead.

I flexed my fingers around the knife in my hand, and prepared my other hand to release a portal—though where, I did not yet know.

The wolf closest to me leapt, soaring towards me, and its fellow beast did the same at Val a split-second later.

I twisted, bending out of the way just as the wolf jumped past me, aiming to slice at it with my knife, but interrupted by more of the water erupting up my throat. In the end, distracted by Ted’s poisoning, I missed the creature’s side entirely, and it turned to face me once more as it landed.

Alright, concentrate, I told myself, ignoring Val’s tussle with the other beast and focusing on the one that had set its sights on me. You can do this.

As the wolf prepared to bounce once more, I snapped one hand towards the ground and one to the fraying rope bridge hanging overhead, at the top of the cliffs. As it jumped, I opened a portal, immediately falling through it and allowing the wolf to pass overhead. I landed heavily on the rope bridge, water pouring from my mouth, and it creaked as it swung from side to side. I focused my gaze on the fraying rope. ‘Don’t you dare,’ I told it, as though my instruction might stop it from snapping.

This was good, I reckoned; I’d put some distance between myself and the wolf. That bought me some time to think. Ample time, even, to work out just what I was going to—

A scream erupted down below; one interrupted by gargling.

I leant over the edge of the bridge, and focussed on the source of the noise: Val, ambushed by the wolf whose attention I’d successfully lost.

Oops. My bad. Maybe I didn’t have quite so much time as I’d thought.

With that, I opened another pair of portals, draining my mana reserves to almost halfway. But whereas last time I’d gently placed myself onto the bridge, I this time opened the exit portal some way above one of the wolves. I leapt through it, arcing my knife through the air, and successfully buried it in the wolf’s shoulder as I landed upon its back.

It howled with pain, and I instinctively gripped on tightly as a fresh batch of water began flooding from my mouth, coating the wolf’s fur.

‘Aaa-aah,’ I found myself groaning as the wolf began to run about, doing its best to shake me off its back. If it wasn’t for how deeply I’d buried the blade, it would have managed it with ease, but as it was, I had a solid handhold.

At least, I did until this latest batch of vomited water seemed to show no sign of ending. This wasn’t enough by itself to trouble my grip, but the fact that it was quickly covering the beast’s fur meant that it was increasingly… slippery.

The wolf I was on top of made a sudden turn, flinging its back legs in the air, and at that moment I lost grip. My knife, however, didn’t.

I crashed into a tree and forced myself quickly up to a stand, focusing on the growling creature, my blade still stuck in its right shoulder.

Alright, knifework is out. What else do I have?

There wasn’t time to think, as the beast launched itself at me before I had a chance to move, distracted by the incredibly irritating ongoing vomiting. The wolf buried its front teeth in my shoulder, pinning me against the wall, and I couldn’t help but roar with pain.

And if I thought the bite was bad enough, it was nothing compared to the bite once the beast had activated its storm variant powers. Lightning shot between its teeth and into my flesh, burning it. I tried to ignore the smell of cooking meat, particularly because I was the meat.

I screamed through the pain, desperately stretching my arm out to pull the knife from the wolf’s shoulder. I nipped at it with my fingertips, just barely skimming the hilt, almost there, almost there, almost—

I vomited once more, a huge burst of water covering the wolf’s head and bared fangs, drenching it.

And the water conducted the lightning.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The wolf, too, roared with pain, releasing my shoulder. The storm powers no longer fried at my flesh, but due to the water painting the beast’s snout, now blitzed at its own face.

I took this moment of relief to fall to the floor, clutching my shoulder. From there, I could just make out Val through my blurry vision, on the back foot against her own ambushing beast.

‘Vomit on it!’ I shouted. ‘On its mouth!’

Val risked a turn to me, presumably pulling a face like I’d just given her a terrible idea. ‘What?’

‘Vomit on—’ I was cut off by my body deciding to demonstrate my instruction at that very moment. I shook my head, spraying water everywhere, then charged towards the wolf and the knife that was still protruding from its shoulder.

It saw me coming, and spun its body around to face me.

With so much momentum on my side, however, I couldn’t stop, and committed myself to leaping over the beast, grabbing out for the knife as I went. I tried that, at least, though I didn’t so much as touch the knife hilt and also the wolf spun around and knocked me to the ground. All in all, it wasn’t my best ever move. Not like that portal slice that collapsed the arch on that elderbeest.

As I tried to stand back up, the wolf pounced on top of me, baring its fangs, and it was all I could do to grab as its neck and chin to keep those teeth away from me. ‘Where’s this water when you need it?’ I spat through clenched teeth.

I willed myself to bring up more of the liquid, but nothing was forthcoming—the sweets were finally finished—which meant that I wasn’t able to use the wolf’s storm powers against it. I was back to relying on my own skillset; one that had grown significantly, but still was—at least mathematically—inferior to a level 14.

I released my right hand from the wolf’s neck, relying on my left hand under its chin to keep those fangs the hells away from me, and it pushed in closer. The wolf’s putrid breath washed over me, making my eyes sting, and I forced myself not to think about it. All that mattered in this moment was getting my right hand around that knife.

Again, I could only barely graze it with my fingertips. I reached further, harder, trying everything I could to get my hands about that knife.

Reach. The word echoed around my head, reminding me of a vital ability. What if…

Closed Reach (Knifework) — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Yes! There was nothing in there about having to actually hold the knife in question. I focused on the blade buried in the wolf’s shoulder and activated my closed reach skill, draining a good amount of my remaining mana in the process.

Reality itself folders around the wolf, pushing the blade deeper into its flesh, and the wolf howled once more. Immediately the pressure on me released, and the creature staggered backwards, thick red liquid pouring down its left side.

I pressed the advantage, reaching out for the blade this time not with spells but with my hand, and I twisted it—hard.

It howled one last, fading howl, and for a moment I felt sorry for the creature. After all, it was only doing what it had been built to do: hunt prey, find sustenance. Ultimately, though, if it was me or it, then the choice was easy. I’d twist that blade again without hesitation.

As it fell to the floor, new notifications popped up in front of me—and very exciting ones indeed.

Level 14 wolf defeated!

Worldbending — +800xp

Worldbending increased to level 15!

Base Points gained — +2 INT, +2 Free Points (INT/WIS/CHA)

Ability selection unlocked

Select an ability from the list below…

Knifework — +800xp

Knifework increased to level 15!

Base Points gained — +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)

Ability selection unlocked

Select an ability from the list below…

And yes, dear reader, you are reading that right. Not one but two abilities, both happening at the same time, exclusively down to random circumstance. I fought the instinct to bring the lists of choices up immediately, and instead settled for helping Val finish off her wolf.

Then, it would be up-skilling time.

"Styk"

Level 8 Novice Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 16

Intelligence — 65

Dexterity — 23

Strength — 36

Wisdom — 23

Charisma — 0

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 15

Knifework — Level 15

Identification — Level 8

Stealth — Level 5

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR].

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +400%