“Move, I need to get back out there!”
“You don’t leave here until I say so, Madam Midnight! You are in no state to leave, you can barely stand as it is.”
“It doesn’t matter, everyone out there needs me!”
Flowing River, the medic who had slapped me several times, gave me a stern look before reaching out with a finger and poking my shoulder, hard. Stumbling, I fell onto my butt on the bed, unable to keep standing. My body is weakened, fatigued to the point of barely being able to raise an arm. My eyes wanted nothing more than to shut and sleep, but after the surgery and removal of the sword, I had become too aware.
“Until I, a Lvl 1, can’t put you on your arse with a single finger, you are to remain here until I clear you. You’ve lost so much blood that I’m honestly surprised you still have any left!”
“Then at least get me a damned radio! And a sniper, I can snipe from here!”
“We’re nearly four kilometres from any side and you want to shoot?! In your condition, you’ll likely hit friendlies even if there wasn’t a downpour! Isabelle!” Flowing River turned to the door as a girl with blonde hair and green eyes entered. “Stay here and make sure she doesn’t move. Update her on the situation outside, but she is not to leave this tent, got it?!”
“Got it. We have more wounded coming in, we need you to treat them.” With Isabelle’s words, Flowing River left the tent. Isabelle then turned to me and stood at attention before speaking.
“Reporting to Madam. So far, there are 22 casualties, 28 seriously wounded individuals and half the fighting force we once had. The appearance of the Void Legion has thrown everyone into confusion.”
“Then it’s best I get out there.” Standing, I unsteadily walked towards the door, but Isabelle blocked me. “Move, girl. I’m fine, all I need is a radio and a sniper and I can help.”
“Sorry Madam, but until the doctor clears you, you’re not to leave.”
Grabbing her shoulder weakly, I push her slightly but fail to move her. Getting annoyed, I looked at her, meeting her green eyes as she shook her head.
“I’m sorry about this, Madam, but since you insist on leaving you leave me no choice.” Suddenly her green eyes glow and in the next moment my mind becomes cloudy as something attempts to control my body, telling it to sit down and not move.
Isabelle gasps as a nose bleed starts but gritting her teeth she didn’t move her eyes from mine.
“T-this is the mental fortitude of a weakened Lvl 3? Ridiculous!” Hearing her muttering, my cloudy mind connected the dots as I realised what she’s doing. I tried to fight it, but the tiredness of my mind made it difficult. My body slowly turned around and walked to the bed before turning and sitting on it.
As soon as my butt was planted on the bed once more, a desire overcame me to stay like this until told otherwise. I didn’t know where this desire came from, my body wanted nothing more to listen to it given my exhausted state. I knew Isabelle was responsible, so I fought it but looking at how strained she was, how much blood poured from her nose, I gave up.
Deciding to stay put, at least for now, I shake my head. “Stop it, Isabelle, I’ll stay here.” My cloudy mind and that desire both faded instantly. Looking at her complexion, she looked terrible but stood strong. Her Class could interfere with the mind and plant suggestions…that’s scary. But looking at her, it seems if one is stronger it can cause a very strong backlash…and that’s with me barely being able to resist.
“Continue your report.”
Isabelle quickly wipes her nose before continuing. “When the Void Legion appeared, three powerful figures, including yours, were identified. One to the south and one to the east. While you have defeated one with the assistance of Geode, it has been confirmed that Vice-Leader Aerith and Manager Winter both defeated one. They are both heavily wounded, but nothing fatal and have already received treatment and are back to fighting.
“To the east, the third powerful presence didn’t have a chance to act. Manager Ghost quickly disposed of it as soon as it showed up. In fact he initially thought nothing of it but was told of the fight in the south then reported he disposed of a similar being.”
Hearing that Rebecca was fine relieved me greatly. I had avoided talking to her telepathically in case she’s in the middle of combat, causing her to be distracted. Looking at Isabelle, I gestured for her to continue and she did.
“To the south and north, the totems have been destroyed and Husks are no longer appearing, the teams have been split to help the east and west and it’s estimated that they too will clear the Husks and totems within the hour.”
“And the Void Legion?”
“At first their appearance overwhelmed us but after adjusting we were successful in dealing with them. Compared to the Husks, their numbers were few so once we figured out how to handle them, they were swiftly dealt with. Vice-Leader Sheep believes that if there were more of them, we may have sustained far more casualties.”
“I see. Thank you, Isabelle. Can you go and get me some coffee and food?”
Isabelle gave me a stern look and shaking my head, I sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. If they’re this close to finishing the fight, I’ll wait here.”
“I understand, Madam. I’ll send for someone to get coffee and food.” Isabelle sticks her head out of the door, seemingly speaking to a guard. Pursing my lips, I laid back in the bed, keeping myself wide awake. My entire body is covered in bandages and gauzes, empty healing potions stacked up next to me. The sword stab wound in my stomach hadn’t been completely healed, only to the point that the bleeding had stopped. My health in turn slowly ticked upwards as my body healed.
[Health: 130/500]
Sitting up as the drowsiness tried to take hold of me, I ignored Isabelle before looking at the Systems messages that had spammed me.
Emergency Quest: Defeat the Void Legion’s Captains! The Void Legion, a dangerous enemy of worlds, hunts down powerful individuals to harvest their power for themselves. Their arrival is not expected, it is too early in the iteration but they must be defeated! Defeat all three Captain’s whose power rivals that of a peak Lvl 2.
“Peak Lvl 2? They weren’t even Lvl 3? Is this the difference between being trained and not being trained?” I felt shocked that the estimated power of the one I face is only at Lvl 2 yet its strength is comparable to Rebecca’s.
You have learnt and used the technique Fire Fist. You have learnt and used the technique Ice Fist.
You are on the cusp of learning a new element! You have upgraded your Ice Island to Tier 1!
You have discovered and used a new advanced element: Frostfire! This element combines Fire and Ice, a continuous burning and freezing spell with large potential.
Mana World and Islands:
Mana: 1
Fire: 1
Ice: 1
Frostfire: 0
Vision: 2
“So you can combine elements to make advanced elements?” Muttering to myself, I move to the next message.
You have learnt and used the technique Frostfire Fist. Upon contact with a target, your fists will leave a blue flame that burns and freezes.
You have defeated a Void Legion Captain! Rewards are available.
Warning! Health is in critical range, seek healing!
Ignoring the reward, I closed every window and rubbed my eyes. According to Flowing River, it’s fine to sleep now, but I couldn’t, not before I knew everything was okay. I felt useless as a leader, not being able to do anything on the battlefield yet ending up in critical condition. Frustration started to rise within me. Hearing footsteps approach the tent, I looked up just as Sheep entered the tent.
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He looked around for a moment before meeting my eyes, his expression showing concern and worry, mixed with some relief. He turned to Isabelle, who stood at attention, and gestured towards the door. Isabelle nodded once and left the tent as Sheep came over and sat down in a chair nearby.
“I heard a report saying that a leader was in critical condition. Imagine my surprise to see that it’s you, the sniper who should’ve been the safest. What happened?”
Pursing my lips, I explained everything that had happened from the start of the Nexus Event to when we finally defeated the Void Legion Captain. Deven just sat there listening to everything before nodding.
“Good shit, Ruby. It took the collective effort of Winter, Aerith, ten Lvl 1s and three Lvl 2s to kill their Captain. For you and Geode alone to kill one is impressive…though Ghost takes the cake, killing one by himself and not even realising what it was.”
Sighing, I leaned back but before I could speak the door to the tent opened once more as Diana walked in holding a tray with one hand that had three cups of coffee and some fruits. She sets it down, handing both of us a coffee before sitting on the bed next to me without a word. I could see she looked worried, sickeningly so as well, but still she just smiled.
“The west has destroyed their totem and Husks, all that is left is the east. Everyone is converging there, it won’t be long until they clean up the remaining Husks and totem. Ruby, are you doing alright? Honestly seeing you like this is a shock.”
Shaking my head, I looked at Deven before speaking. “I’m just…frustrated. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything, all I did was kill a few things and become heavily wounded. I’m not even leading, hell compared to Aerith or Winter I’m just a one hit wonder in battles. It’s just…frustrating, am I ev-”
“I’m not letting you finish that sentence, Ruby. Did you forget what you alone accomplished? You destroyed several threats before it even got close to the base, you killed a Void Legion Captain without letting it kill others. The dragons to the south killed eight people, the Void Legion massacred twenty more in the other areas.
“The north sustained heavy injuries and the same to the west, all because the threats got to the wall. Your section was completely fine, and because of that they were the first to adjust and only lost two people. Thanks to the fact that Captain went after you and you killed it meant that it didn’t go on to massacre the inner base.”
I understood what Sheep was saying, but perhaps due to my fatigue it just ended up sounding like words to me. Before I could say anything, I felt a hand over mine and looking down, I saw a badly injured and bandaged hand grasping mine. Looking at Diana, she smiled gently.
“Don’t blame yourself, Ruby. Compared to what I know of the last Nexus Event, this one is monstrous compared to it, no one could’ve predicted it would go this way. Not even Deven did, and he blames himself more for not taking it into consideration that it would be this bad.” I glanced at Deven and could see it in his eyes, the annoyance and shame. “Yet he isn’t getting frustrated. We always knew this world is dangerous and that we may die at any moment.
“Because of you acting quickly, you saved that young man called March. You kept those on the east safe because you killed the Giants before they reached the wall. The other walls had casualties because their threats reached the wall, yet you kept everyone safe. Be proud of that, Midnight. You’ve earned everyone’s respect because of your accomplishments.”
Staring at my lap, which had a few spirits sitting on it, I slowly processed what she said. I understood what she and Deven meant, and as it sunk in I nodded slowly with a small smile forming on my face. Looking at Diana’s hand, I slowly picked it up and looked at her.
“What happened?”
“Oh, a certain Lvl 3 used me as pain relief and crushed my hand.”
Blinking a bit, I remembered that during the surgery to remove the sword I had gripped something that had been in my hand. Connecting the dots, I looked up in horror at Diana who simply smiled.
“I’m so sorry!”
“Oh it’s no trouble.” Diana giggles and waves her other hand. “It’s healable and a small cost to make sure you’re okay.”
Guiding a few spirits to her hand, they started to glow faintly. Diana’s eyes widened for a moment while she looked at her hand.
“Oh? That feels a bit better…are those the spirits you see?”
“Ah, yes. They can heal a bit and provide relief for pain. They’ll help you for a bit.” The door to the tent opened once more as someone rushed in and looked at Sheep and I.
“Madam, Sir. The last totem to the east has been destroyed and the Husks have been killed. All teams are slowly combing through the remains, ensuring all Husks are dead. Miss Aerith is freezing the moat completely to ensure the Husks that filled it are dead.”
“Good, I’ll come out and assess the situation, but it sounds like the Nexus Event is over, at least for us.” Deven stands before looking at me. “Ruby, I’ll head out first. Make sure to keep yourself well.” I nod and watch him leave. Before I could say anything to Diana, I felt my body tremble as the tiredness fully hit me. As if expecting it, Diana takes my cup of coffee before quickly helping me lay down. The moment my head hits the pillow, I fell asleep, thanks to the tension of the Nexus Event being cut.
***
Two people stood together in the void of space, no foothold beneath them. Two females, one with flaming red hair and flowing blue hair. They stood there, determination on their faces as they looked towards a sea of figures, all resembling the Void Legion.
Behind the army there were spaceships, weapons and monstrous beings with armour and guns on it. All of them faced the two, as if prepared for a battle. As the front of the army moves towards the two, the red haired woman raises her hand, a mechanical suit covering her in an instant as a sea of machinery shifts into being, a massive city of arsenal appearing. She swipes her hand down, pointing it at the army as all of the machinery around her starts firing…
***
Stirring awake, I heard the sound of breathing directly behind me and the feel of a pair of arms wrapped around me. I didn’t need to turn to know that at some point Rebecca had come in and fallen asleep with me in her arms. Feeling her warmth on my back, I turned my body slightly and seeing her sleeping face made me smile softly.
Resting my head on her chest, I closed my eyes and listened to her beating heartbeat and breathing. Basking in this feeling, my mind cleared itself of all thoughts, the only thought in my mind was her. I didn’t know how long I laid there, but soon I felt the signs of Rebecca waking and keeping my eyes closed, I heard her groan.
“Mm?” I felt a hand stroking my head as she softly giggled. “Ruby, I know when you’re awake. Why are you pretending?”
“Mm, I want you to spoil me.”
“Well, that’s easy to do.”
We just laid there, the two of us just enjoying each other's warmth after a close encounter to death. I had the sound of someone entering before exiting straight away, but the sound had ended our brief time. Slowly separating from each other, we both sat up, quiet for a while more before speaking. I decided to not tell her about the future dream I just had, I didn’t want to give her more worry.
“I heard you had a hard time?”
“Me, a hard time? Compared to you, Rubes, who nearly died?!” Hearing Rebecca’s cheeky voice, I looked up and looked at her. She had been bandaged fairly heavily, but nothing compared to me.
“Ah, sorry…”
“Why are you sorry? I nearly got got by that bloody Captain thing. And if you’re thinking you’re sorry for not telling me you were in danger, then don’t be. I wouldn’t have been able to help you and it would’ve been disastrous since I would’ve had no idea where you were. If you teleported to me, it would’ve been a massacre in the base.” Hearing her reassurance made me happy.
“Let’s not discuss last night. We need to get to work, I’m sure there is a lot that needs to be taken care of.” I stood up slowly and felt a bit light headed. Rebecca stood and put her hands on my shoulders before gently pushing me onto my butt again.
“You need to be checked before you leave, Rubes. Stay here and rest.” She places a finger over my lips as I open my mouth. “No buts! Word has already spread that you heroically killed one of the Captains along with Geode to protect the inner base. No one is going to fault you for taking time to rest and not doing leadership things right now.”
“Argh, can you convince the doctor to let me at least rest at home?”
“I’ll ask her to come in and check you first. Ruby.” Rebecca cups my face, resting her forehead on mine. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Kissing her lightly, I watched her leave before sighing and dropping my shoulders. The feeling of being useless crept up once more and biting my bottom lip I shook those feelings off. My weakness of close quarters combat had exposed itself massively. Even if I could destroy threats from range, the moment they came close I struggled.
Hearing footsteps approaching, I looked up and saw Flowing River enter, sternly looking at me.
“Alright, strip down, Madam. I need to check your wounds and ensure you’re in good condition before clearing you.”
Doing as she said, Flowing River slowly unravelled each of the bandages covering my body. Most of the wounds were healing or had healed, though they would leave scarring. As she worked, I started to realise just how many wounds I had. Even though my health regenerated quickly in the base, the wounds were slow to heal. Bruises covered my body with dozens of sword cuts, both shallow and deep, all over my body.
Flowing River made sure to clean each sword wound before reapplying more bandages and gauzes. Soon, she arrived at the last one, the stab wound from the sword. Removing the bandaging revealed a large wound that had been stitched together.
“This was a rushed job. Sorry, but we’re going to have to restitch this and heal it at the same time.”
After leaving for a moment, she came back with another person who started healing the wound. I tilted my head at this sight before speaking.
“Why can’t you heal it completely?”
“Your body is extremely difficult to heal. It’s not only yours, all Lvl 3s are hard to heal. We don’t understand why, it takes most of our mana just to stop the bleeding. Now, bite down on this, Madam.”
Flowing River handed me a piece of wood and doing as she said, she nodded before removing the stitches. Pain flared up, but not that badly and as she worked on restitching the wound, both front and back, the pain became manageable. Once done, she rebandaged it before looking me over once more.
“Did you have medical expertise in our world, Flowing River?”
“Call me Elle, Madam. Yes, in our world I’m a surgeon. To think the first time I’ve ever taken annual leave to play a highly anticipated game I would end up being sent to a world where I would be doing the exact same thing, except there is magic and swords here. To think…” Elle kept talking, seemingly angry that they had taken the ‘Doctor’ Job.
“Alright, your condition is still terrible. You’ve barely rested a day. I don’t understand how an Elf works, so I have no idea when you’ll completely recover, but take a few days and don’t do anything that involves heavy labour. I’ll ask for an assistant to be assigned to you in your office.” Standing, Elle picked up a clipboard and marked something down.
“So I’m good to go?”
“Yes, but I’ll be sending someone to your office every day to clean your wounds and restitch your stomach.”
Flowing River hands me a cane and umbrella before leaving. Breathing out, I walked out of the tent slowly and I saw the small camp that had been set up in the free space between buildings. My heart sank at the sight, dozens of people rushing past, back and forth. Within sight of me, I saw seriously injured people that were missing arms, legs or even ears and eyes, at least fifty people in total were being treated.
This sight made me realise that regardless of how much stronger we got, this world wasn’t here as a small field trip. It’s a world that is out to kill us, no matter how strong we got we would never be free of that risk. We can’t stop, we need to keep getting stronger…no matter the cost.