The rune locks on and activates before Tetsu’s vision shifts. With the sudden burst of energy to harm the beast, the arrow turns into a blur, making it hard to discern if Tetsu now faces an illusion or an actual disappearing mountain scenario.
“Fake or real?” Tetsu ponders but holds no hope, for in either case, he won’t be able to breach a superior illusionist’s domain of influence.
He had stumbled into the domain by sheer dumb luck or would have to wait until the ugly fish dispelled the skill.
“I want a domain skill.” He pouts.
Tetsu cursed himself as he remembered rejecting a domain skill—the highest-level skill he was offered. Well, before the casual meeting with the gods.
Later, he called the grapes sour, convincing himself that the same restriction might render it useless, like the [Overlay] skill. But to rub salt in his wounds, Saint woke up from his slumber and crammed Tetsu with knowledge that proved how wrong he was.
“Screw you too,” Tetsu flipped himself off and later realized how weird the scene would have been for a third party.
“Any luck so far?” Tina urged Xania who had no answer.
Tine knew the domain of a level six? beast was nothing to scoff at, and the arrow might be a lucky shot for all they knew, and the archer might not even be an ally. She cursed herself for relying on some stranger to come help them. Since when did she rely on anyone? She scolded herself straight before tackling the problem at hand.
“A little hope isn’t bad, but relying on some miracle is a fool’s death wish. Think.” Tina glares at the fish, stealing her resolve.
Hana hits Tina with a calming spell to help her concentrate, which makes Xania feel even more useless. All of them contributed at least to the bare minimum, while she rode their cocktails, always avoiding death, always being the weakest and unless link.
Xania hated her luck at having picked such a bond and was desperate to switch it, but she wasn’t strong enough to claim such an opportunity and again had to rely on someone to even hope for such an opportunity.
“Useless,” she cursed herself. “One useful skill. Please,” she begged, tears filling her eyes. “One skill to be useful. Please,” she pleaded with her bond, promising to pay the price, no matter how steep.
The heavens heeded her call, and a skill flashed into a skill slot without her permitting or even acknowledging its presence.
[Ding! You have gained a new skill from the bond. Racial Skill: Beacon of Hope: In the darkest hours, be the guiding light for the fallen souls. The more followers you gather, the stronger the beacon shall glow. One day may you guide every soul around you to safety. Radius: 100mtrs. Level: Warrior. Rarity: Uncommon. Chant: Heed my call, only I can guide you out of your misery.]
The absurd, cultish chant didn’t bewilder Xania as much as the level of the skill did. “How did I unlock a higher-tier spell?”
The spell proved far from what she needed in the moment, but she speculated that the skill could be applied in other ways. Without questioning the heavens, she chanted the spell and ignited like a true beacon.
“What the—” Tina exclaimed.
“—Fuck,” Tetsu frowned at the strange pillar of light a hundred meters away. Every fiber of his being urged him to flee from the obvious cult trap.
The group surrounding Xania had the opposite reaction, gravitating toward her with a unique power they used to counteract the fish’s domain.
“How are you doing this?” Tina gaped at Xania.
“New skill,” Xania blurted out all the details in her excitement.
“Not good,” Hanna gritted her teeth. “They’re burning through their life force to get closer.”
Tina flicked Xania’s forehead before any doubt could settle. “This has nothing to do with your skill, but even if it does, it’s better to sacrifice some lifespan if it means they can live to tell the tale.” She smiled, congratulating her with a tight hug. “Good job.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Yes,” Hana agreed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean...”
“It’s okay,” Xania said, rubbing her eyes and pushing Tina away. “You’re naked.”
———<>|*|<>———
“Oh, what the hell.” A thought invaded Tetsu’s mind, compelling him to move toward the light.
What if the mountain humans were behind the light, employing some ridiculous cultish skill to summon help?
Unable to distinguish the truth, Tetsu approached the beacon, resisting the instincts that screamed at him to turn and flee.
“Now I’m defying myself. Fantastic!”
———<>|*|<>———
“This won’t attract other beasts, will it?” Tina chuckled, her laughter tinged with nervousness.
“I hope not!” Xania mirrored her laugh.
“One monster against another should give us enough time to escape, right?” Hana joined in their laughter.
The spectacle shattered the illusion for the other women, but a sudden rumble yanked them all back to reality. Fear gripped their hearts so tight, that they wondered if they might die before even witnessing the entrance of another beast.
The first creature emerging from the forest appeared humanoid, but the second one dashed their hopes of surviving this ordeal.
“Koel?” The three of them gaped.
Xania’s skill provided her with a vague sense of how many members were under her umbrella of hope and how many more might join their crusade to find a sanctuary. While the women were clear members ready to join, a reluctant soul also made their way toward them.
She hoped it to be their savior, the one who shot the arrow but was dismayed when Koel emerged from the forest. If nothing else, the massive golem on his tail, and being stuck between a fish and a golem, made him the last candidate to be anyone’s savior.
Xania doubted whether he could save himself or be someone else’s savior. Still... if he was following the beacon, shouldn’t he be heading towards her instead of the fish?
She realized all her questions were in vain, for he wouldn’t survive the clash between two high-level beasts to ever be interrogated, and as her hopes dwindled, so did her skill.
Some means interconnected them, and she noticed it was too late. If she had a calm mind, maybe she could have drawn Koel closer to her and saved his life. She cursed herself for being so useless, but another miracle took place before her incompetence became a permanent regret.
The wind carried Koel like a feather, who was about to be skewered between the golem’s horns and then slammed into the fish, which had prepared a spiky welcome by converting its skin into jagged ridges in mere moments.
The golem's angle shifts as it seems to trip in mid-air. As if standing on solid ground before someone pulled the floor away.
The horns shifted, narrowly missing Koel, allowing him to escape being skewered. Yet, the miracle didn’t end there. Like a leaf caught in the wind, Koel fluttered around and above the golem with improbable movements.
Doctors would have pegged him to be made of paper based on how he folded and danced to the whims of the wind. The golem became wedged between Koel and the spiky fish in one bizarre miracle.
The golem crashed into the fish, dispelling the domain. The space, devoid of sound, explodes into sounds from multiple impacts: the fish being flung out of the water and into a tree, the tree snapping like a twig, and the wails of the golem as it got skewered in return by the fish.
Koel landed on the shore with grace, still catching the remnants of his sleep as he yawned.
“He is still sleepy!” Hana and Tina exclaimed.
“You guys must be great in bed,” Xania retorted without realizing, her gaze fixed on the mysterious figure. He seemed nonchalant yet vigilant, and even though he looked at his opponents, she felt his gaze upon her too. “Is he observing everything?”
“Attention seeker,” Tina frowned at Xania.
“Not... what—Ah! Never mind,” Xania sighed.
“No point in talking to her now,” Hana nudged Tina. “Let her take in her man’s aura,” she snickered.
“Like you took in last night?” Xania retorted.
“Jealous suits you well,” the sisters burst into laughter.
“Women!” Tetsu sighed and focused on the two beasts ahead. “I need to learn lip reading.” Another plan added to his ever-growing list of things to do and decipher.
The strange domain distorted many senses, but the fish couldn’t impede the momentum of the golem, and another one of Tetsu’s theories solved itself and fell into his lap.
The fish leaned towards illusion magic, and even though it reached new heights thanks to its dedication, it lacked minimum defensive measures. Which allowed the golem to ram into the fish’s domain and defense alike. A mishap, yet the horns pierced through as if it were made of jelly. The disgusting fish died on the spot, yet Tetsu commended its quick thinking and last-minute counter.
Before the fish perished, it released all its stored energy to destroy the assailant. The notion seemed ridiculous, but some kind of revenge is better than nothing, he guessed.
“Eye for an eye,” Tetsu pulled the arrow embedded in the ground. The pouch’s mouth opened wide, swallowing the arrow like a vacuum as it drew closer.
The golem crumbled away, leaving three massive holes in the fish. With the loss of life, the mana within the beasts dissipated, allowing Tetsu to use runes and [Pave path] to move the carcasses with relative ease. For an unknown reason, lesser mana meant lesser weight, and he didn’t understand why but enjoyed using fewer reserves and lesser strain to lift dead objects.
“Looks disgusting, but meat is meat,” he heaved the fish closer to the shore, prompting the women to gag.
Tetsu wished for the group to take care of the beast or for them both to escape while the beasts fought for dominance, but who would have guessed that they would take out each other in one swell attack?
“Life is so unpredictable.” Tetsu sighs and waves at the group, not one bit fluttered by witnessing a group of half-naked girls.
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