Out of all the things I expected, I hadn't anticipated the march to the Fire Aberrant to be boring. The speed at which almost a hundred fighters and gear moved was a shadow of what a solo squad could manage, much less a scout squad. My Slurry Ichor constantly swapped between dumping adrenaline and trying to conserve my energy as much as possible even as mana flowed out of my pool into Fievil and Amelia. It was the only thing keeping my thoughts from drifting.

The moment we entered comm range with the scouts luring the Mother Boar Boss, a change rippled through the gathered fighters. The ranks grew just a bit tighter, and weapons of all sorts found hands. The Cloth Muscles, Mage Circles, and the Merc Corp took a bit longer to get the message, but Ponzio and Filomena got them up to speed. The only things we could see was a forest strangely devoid of any creature, even insect, and regular signs of flash fires throughout. It was that lack of underbrush that allowed us to see far enough to spot the Aberrant as a shock of orange and red in an otherwise normal stretch of woods.

Without hesitation, I had Amelia float me up while staying in the shadow of one of the nearby oaks. The true scope of our enemy crested before my eyes. Sitting in a clearing several hundred feet wide was a crystalline structure that could only be described as a frozen flame. Curls flowed up as if the very material had melted and hardened into smooth tips. It was a stark departure from the rigid forms I'd come to expect from Metier Crystals. Then again, I suppose this is a full fledged Aberrant. Why wouldn't they look different?

Regardless of what the multiversal foe looked like, the threat it represented was clear as day. Even from a distance, my Perception let me pick out the shuffling of hundreds of creatures and humanoids. The most obvious were the car and building-sized creatures looming over their lower Quotient counterparts. The sight of one of the Wildfire Hogs with their villi covered bodies sent a shiver down my spine. It was an exercise in self control not to let out a string of curses that would have alerted our enemy. We are so screwed. Of course, I didn't voice my thoughts but reported my observations through the comm-plant to Sarah.

Devon's scouts were culling the Tendril lookouts, hoping to stave off our force getting noticed by the gathering Aberrant. The Wild Guard leader made some final adjustments to the arrangements of our fighters before we marched forward at a crawl. When the clearing was frighteningly close, Sarah called a halt to the forces and waited for the scouts to return.

"We are doing three salvos," the orc woman stated, looking to Rodrigo. I want you to use the Air Infused shrapnel ammunition for all three right in their midst. When I call for the charge, I want you to use standard ones to hit the front line and then switch to the backline. I don't want a single instance of friendly fire!"

"It will be done," Rodrigo nodded. The dwarf looked to the Life Attuned lent by the Wild Guard to actually aim the contraptions while the giants repositioned.

"Once we've engaged, shift up and dig in. I don't want the cannons taken out right at the start. Ron, can I trust you to provide us defenses as we draw deeper?" Sarah asked.

"I will. I don't know what it will look like with the interference I am expecting from the Aberrant, but I'll make something happen. It won't be the same as having me there, but if the influence of the Aberrant starts disrupting the fighting let me know and I'll have Amelia counter."

Sarah glanced at the bracelet she knew housed the Air Mana Shard before nodding her head. She handed me a small sack. "These are our highest Level Infusions. Once you are in position we will cut a path so we can feed you what we've got stored."

"We'll make it happen," I said, clenching my hands around the sack.

Sarah took in everyone gathered around. The leadership were nervous, but resolute. The rest of the fighters were definitely feeling the tension, but their faces were firm. I took that confidence into myself. I will protect them.

"Time to make the Raid," Sarah said. "Status. Raid Parties!"

Communication notifications bloomed before my eyes. Branching trees of names flickered, swirled and rearranged themselves in seconds until my Party interface finalized. The Bunker Busters were all in place, as was Ponzio and Sarah. Both had stars beside their names, silver and gold respectively. It was a heavy load I immediately felt as my LPS minimap was flooded with markers that linked our perspectives. It took a not-insignificant mental nudge to filter the map.

Sarah immediately stumbled, blood dripping down her nose in concerning amounts. Sam rushed toward her, but she held up a hand to stop him. With a deep breath, she dried and incinerated the blood in a huff of ash until she was standing perfectly straight. I could see her eye twitching minutely despite her firm posture.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I will be when this fight is over," Sarah growled. "Might need to make sure we have more relays in the Raid Party but I'll need to do that some other time. General explanation, silver star is your Relay and gold star is the Raid Leader. Poke the Relay and they will be able to directly connect you to the Raid Leader even if they aren't in your Party. Poke your Relay and you'll be able to connect to any other Relay."

I didn't ask how much strain that was putting on her. I could imagine that the Relays were sharing the burden that the Raid Leader had to shoulder to connect as many details to their LPS and comm-plant. With a concerned look, I took the lead while Sarah gathered herself. "Get back to your squads! Wait for the order to engage!"

The leaders gave me serious nods before shuffling over to pass Sarah's initial commands along. When the only people that remained were Clara and the Bunker Busters, Sam placed a hand on Sarah's head despite her protests. His nerve filaments poked and prodded all over the surface of her head, some even going into her eyes and nose until he pulled away. "Your blood pressure is exquisitely high. Just from feel I can tell you are burning up. Find more relay things before you start this fight, or we are going to do it as we have been doing."

Sarah looked like she wanted to argue, but eventually relented. I formed a seat out of stone and she closed her eyes as she worked through whatever aspect of the Status system she'd developed with Gec. Communication windows flickered at the edge of my vision again until an identical Party composition took its place, but Sarah visibly relaxed. Not totally, but at least it didn't look like she was getting ready to spring a leak.

"Not enough, but I will have to do," Sam grumbled.

After a minute of making sure Sarah was okay, we shuffled to the front of the column of fighters. We weren't trying to be inspirational or even particularly militant, but as we passed Wild Guards and Cloth Muscles and Mage Circles and even the Mercs, every one of them stood just a bit straighter. A subtle shift of stances in every one of the feet I could sense through vibrosense sent goosebumps down my heavily armored arms. It was a mass of people, united in purpose if not means, to defeat a common evil.

It was justice meted out in the most direct way possible.

"Load!" Sarah's voice rang clear as day in my head. Several seconds later, she gave the second command. "Lift!"

I stared off into the milling crowd of monsters and the frozen flame that was the Aberrant, taking deep breaths. I trusted in my power. That did not mean that I was infallible or impenetrable. It was a constant reminder and I made sure to keep it at the forefront of my mind. The future depended on our actions. Balance either swung our way or--

"Fire at will!" There was a second of delay before thumps filled the underbrush. Smoking projectiles flew overhead, Air mana trailing close behind it. I saw a quartet of Skills snap to each of the projectiles while in flight and then I turned back to the beasts. A few of the bird Tendrils in their midst were looking around in confusion as the projectiles whistled overhead.

Then they missed. Considering it was the first volley not only of most of the Mercs but the fight in general it was understandable. Thankfully, they'd juiced up the projectiles. A series of fireballs exploded the moment the cannons impacted, the flames rolling forward into the mass of monsters. The fragmented wooden projectile peppered the front rows of monsters before a cloud of choking gas tailed the flames. The creatures that weren't killed by the first two magics instantly began to squirm and roil as the Death magic seeped into their bodies.

Then the second and third blasts struck deeper and deeper still into the masses, one of them striking a ten foot praying mantis that was amidst the Q5 beasts. The bright green creature sliced at the air, cutting swaths through the nearby creatures with its blade arms.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Charge! Charge!" Sarah yelled over the comm-plant, prompting me to push off the ground with my all, plus a nudge from a Fievil powered to the whole front row of defenders. Some stumbled, but most had a high enough Mobility Attribute to compensate and benefit from the shove.

Before we'd left the treeline, the initial attack had passed. I took to the air, letting Amelia yank me forward faster than I could run as Daniela released flames from her hands and Jolene rode on the cloud-formed tail of Billy's magic. Each of them peeled off to engage the closest Q5 creatures with the crack of abilities.

Little spurts of Daniela's dragonfire Trait took out swaths of the smaller insect and mammal creatures that were cooked under her Level advantage. Billy singlehandedly pushed back a wedge with his clouds to allow our conglomerate of fighters to reach far enough out of the trees to let loose with their own magics. Three targeted bolts of lightning struck down the no-longer-burning mantis when it tried to engage our frontlines, its head disintegrating as they passed even if its body continued to flail.

Unfortunately, we weren't the only magic prone members of the fight. The humanoid Tendrils immediately returned fire with swaths of flame almost all the colors of the rainbow, as well as rock and ice shards ranging from finger thin to torso sized missiles. Defensive magics took shape as waves of sounds, thick plant life, and stone took the brunt of the impact, but even from my position at the tip of the wedge I could hear some of our fighters taking damage.

They need to dig in! My mental message was received loud and clear as Fievil manifested his Arcane Sink to cut down on the magical effects all around us even as it amplified the Earth Mana based ones. However, dodging hardened stone when it was anticipated was a bit easier than cutting blades of wind or gouts of seeking fire. The heavyweights of the Aberrants did not like that. An Acidic Refinement, Life Attuned earwig the size of a public bus started stomping right over many creatures just to cross the distance. One of the Wild Guard squads immediately separated to engage them towards the north of the Aberrant's clearing. As a small mercy, the Kissing Bug and Fire Ant Q6's that had been identified were on the opposite side of the crystal enemy. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Anthony mowing down enemies to lock mandibles with its fellow species representative that was in the dark side.

Not so fortunately were the three Wildfire Hogs making a beeline for our frontline. Even without taking into account their abilities to buff hordes of monsters, the mass of the things getting up to speed and ramming into our fighters would be catastrophic. The moment the Wildfire Hogs started to pick up speed in our direction, was already forming in my hand. It took a significant amount of mental capital to restrain the depth of the upgraded Skill in exchange for width. My breath caught in my throat as 30% of my own mana pool evaporated in a second, but the disruptive effect by itself was worth it.

The earth split and dozens of land-based creatures fell into its depths or were impaled by the initial buds of stone fangs. That by itself wouldn't have been worth losing a third of my mana pool, but when the Hogs were unable to jump over, and one actually became stuck in the I knew we had a chance.

The whole time I'd been making sure our fighters didn't get overrun, Fievil had been plying and to form trenches upon trenches that our defenders quickly filled. A few of the elves used their magic in support, pushing out toxic gasses and liquids that were being sent their way from the various insect creatures, while the other Attunements laid into the masses.

It was right at that moment that I crossed the invisible threshold that delineated the Aberrant's perverted Blessing of Magic. The sphere of the Arcane Sink shrunk as it encountered a wall of maroon pressure. The tide had been slowly turning in our favor until the brains joined the brawn of the Aberrants. As if they'd been waiting for contact, the leadership of the Aberrants spilled out of the small stone building we'd spotted earlier. As no surprise, Jefferson the demon and Clayton the Water Appendage were striding forward. As if that wasn't enough, a third Q7 Fire Appendage followed a step behind.

Jefferson gathered an aura of purple-black fire to himself, more than a little hatred in his eyes, and leveraged it at me. Before I had to engage, a burst of swept the demon with such a prodigious quantity that Clayton was forced to extend an ice shield to protect them. The Fire Appendage drew up a cyclone of fire from the very flames Daniela was forming, and I could almost feel the intent to launch it back. That's when a deluge of rain started to fall right over the Appendages.

"!" I shouted, the delays giving me enough time to Amplify at least at half power. With a lob, accelerated by a burst of wind from Amelia, the projectile practically disappeared from sight in the rain of Jolene's Amplified defense. My voice rang through the comm-plant, "Disengage!"

"Master Terrigan!" Billy shouted while using his cloud-stuff to cushion the other Bunker Busters from my attack. "Look out!"

With his warning, Amelia had enough time to get me the hell out of the way. A claw the size of my entire body burned through the air in the space I'd been. I used every ounce of my Perception to take in the monstrosity -- the true monstrosity-- that had appeared. Seemingly birthed from the still closing side of the Aberrant... was a chimera. As tall as any of the Crystal Ward towers in Ocala, and twice as wide, was an ursine body. If that had been all it would have been bad enough, but instead of the normal snout there was a boar head with beady red eyes and tusks as long as my whole body reaching for the sky. And just to add insult to injury, plates of chitin covered the beast like armor, reaching down its back until a two-pronged scorpion's tail was visible swishing through the air.

The Implant spazzed out for a moment before spitting out something that worried me immensely.

"Can you all handle the Appendages!" I shouted quickly, using Amelia to dodge a stab from the Corpus Chimera's tail by a hand's width. Its arms and legs were slow, but that was not the case for the tail.

"We'll hold!" Sarah shouted. "Threads team 1, engage with the high level demon! Igor, stop the Water Appendage. Threads team 2, neutralize that Fire Appendage. Support Circle one move to support them! Ronan, we'll take care of the masses! Kill that thing!"

Her voice was only a touch shaky, but considering who we were talking about it meant the situation was not good. I hadn't had the time to engage the Wildfire Hogs, the Armadillo wasn't even on our side of the fight yet and only three of the Q5 insects had been taken out. A cold sweat sprouted down my back despite all my layers of armor and the slowly creeping heat of the battlefield. Spells were still landing amidst our defenders from the humanoid Tendrils and our frontline was still being hammered by the fastest of the beasts, but we were still firing back Pendulum Cannon rounds and sweeping magical attacks.

The problem became the lull I knew would come, as everyone internalized the need to fight for the long run instead of burning down their mana. It had already started, but that would be the most dangerous time to navigate. The creature in front of me would be the massive problem that would tip that tenuous time for both sides.

With a roar, I flew straight for the tails. It would be costly, but if I needed to fight the thing on the ground there was only a slight chance of survival if I didn't have to be worried about getting impaled by a cheeky scorpion butt. after formed around Fievil's axe head as he channeled more of the spell chains. A trail of sandy rings formed in my wake as I dodged a claw and kick from the main body only to take a stab from the scorpion tail.

Even with Amelia's help, the blow struck me in the ribs. Three shards of my exploded into motes of light as the mana holding them together disappeared and the prongs ground through the protecting me. Without both layers, I would have been no better than a shish kabob. As it was, venom poured out like a water hose. Some of it shot right into my body while the rest started eating into the exterior of my armor.

I grit my teeth as my blood started to burn under the effects of the venom. After chucking my focus for dodging to Amelia for a few seconds, I concentrated on my Geocardium. Evaporate! The opening in my side immediately boiled, my Slurry Ichor bubbled out of the wound before aerosolizing. I couldn't feel the individual cells that jumped to the air and were connected by forces I hadn't quite figured out, but I could command them. Which is why I asked them to spurt out of the wound and clear out as much of the venom along the way.

Health: 83% (Mild Ketoacidosis)

While I bled out in the sky, the fights continued. Daniela and Billy were hemming in Jefferson the demon while stalling the Q6 Kissing Bug that had arrived. Ponzio and his lower Quotient team were defending the perimeter of the fight my friends were using from the hordes of creatures.

Igor and the Wild Fists were tearing their way towards Clayton as the Water Appendage directed some of the Q5 and Q4 creatures into a cohesive whole that would be a threat for our defenders. A Nash Circle was feet behind them, gales of healing energy following the crowd of pugilists.

Devon, Dai, Anthony our Fire Ant, Filomena, and her whole Cloth Muscle team were fighting for their lives against an inferno of creatures on fire, with fire and in fire as the Fire Appendage and the two free Wildfire Hogs covered the Tendril Fire Ant charging over the fissure I'd created. The other Nash Circle were struggling to rebuff the damage they were accruing. Like a coal burning train, I could see Joe rushing across the battlefield in a beeline towards our fiery foes.

Even with my enhancements to Perception, Containment, and Refinement, the attacks and melee the Clansmen Mercenaries were enduring with the help of Sam and the remaining Wild Guard made the chaos all the more unpredictable. I couldn't even pinpoint where help was needed. Stop thinking. Let Sarah do that, kill this Corpus thing!

After the next dodge Amelia managed, I was tired of being on the defensive despite the initiative we'd brought to the fight. There was no quick 'out' from the fight, which meant it was time to start pulling out some of the stops. With a thought, Fievil, Amelia, and I were on the same page and I started to dive through the halos of sands the Totem had been generating. A dozen stacked up as I looped through the middle of them and came out the other side, glaring at the Corpus Chimera. My palm rested on the Hummingbird Charm that Amelia was using to move us around.

""