“Zeus Punishment”

For a moment the world seemed frozen to Dave. The giant golem’s arm hung in the air above Dave’s head, motionless. Neither it nor the golem moved, his opponent looked like a statue. Somehow Dave knew that it wasn’t the world around him that was frozen, but rather him that was moving faster than physically possible. He felt like the Flashin one of the old school comics. Before the grin had spread fully over his face, the same innate feeling told Dave that this wouldn’t last.

He quickly focused back on the task at hand and checked the golems body for targets to attack. There was one spot underneath its left arm where whatever material the golem was made off showed a hairline crack. Perfect.

Energy filled his spear, lightning crackled along its shaft, charging the air around it and making the weapon grow hot in Dave’s hands. Every hair on his arms stood up, the spear was growing uncomfortably hot, but it still kept charging with electricity.

Stepping to the side, Dave prepared his attack.

Suddenly time snapped back into place, the whole experience having lasted barely longer than a few seconds. For the tiniest of moments, Dave was disoriented, but so was the golem. Its attack hammered into the ground next to Dave. It hadn’t expected its attack to miss and was confused to see its opponent vanishing.

Before it could reorient itself, Dave thrusted his spear forward. His form was off, he was badly balanced and overextended. All in all, he was sloppy. But it didn’t matter, because as soon as his weapon connected with the golem, all the charge was unleashed.

It was like a lightning bolt hit. With the deep rumbling of thunder, an explosion of chaos went off. Bright light filled the whole clearing and the golem was thrown away like a ragdoll.

Dave suffered from the backlash as well. Suddenly he was soaring through the air, he landed on the ground, but couldn’t see where, his eyes were still blinded by echoes of the lightning and his ears ringing.

All he could manage was to take note of the immense pain that washed over him as he passed out.

Max stood at the edge of their clearing, just a few meters away from where the barrier was. They had replaced it only a minute ago and the familiar silver flickerings of light played through the air, but that wasn’t what drew Max’s attention.

Where usually there was a space between a couple of trees they used to defend against incoming monsters, there now was a literal crater. It looked like a bomb had exploded here. There was a hole big enough for Max to lie down in, all around it the earth was scorched. The middle of the pit was blackened even, the explosion had completely charred the dirt.

But that wasn’t all, a few of the nearby trees had even crashed down from the shockwave. One was broken in half, snapped by whatever force hit it. And most of the trees that were still standing had scorch marks upon them where little lightning bolts hit them.

Max had seen the explosion from back at the camp. Or at least part of it. He saw the flash of a very bright light, followed by a deep roaring thunder. Maybe he imagined it, but he swore he also felt some of the shockwave, even though he was a good bit away.

He found it hard to imagine Dave did all this. Hard to imagine anyone could wreak such havoc. It looked like a military practice ground, not like the edge of their small campsite.

“Unbelievable.” Mira said softly next to him.

Max had been so lost in his own amazement, that he hadn’t even noticed her.

“Yeah.”

For once Max was lost for words. He felt almost delirious. Well maybe part of that was that he had been knocked out only a few minutes ago. Sam had barely made him conscious again before he took off to see the place.

A sudden thought occured to Max. “How are the others?” He asked, a bit ashamed. After hearing the news, he had insisted on Ryland knocking him out for their shield, then after he was healed he had taken off immediately.

“Fine. Sam is still working on Dave and Bixby, the rest ist well though. Sarah says she still sees flashes of light, but considering this.” Mira gestured over the clearing. “They’re perfectly healthy.”

“That’s good.” Max said relieved.

His head hurt just from imagining the power that Dave must’ve unleashed on that poor monster. And suddenly his own weakness overcame him and he had to sit down.

Mira was instantly by his side, grabbing his arm and gently guiding him down. “Are you alright?” She asked, concern on her face.

Max gave a weak smile. “Just a bit dizzy.”

Mira simply nodded and sat down next to him.

“I just figured I might as well give you company.” Mira said, shrugging. “Also that way Sarah can’t chide you for walking off sick again.”

Max laughed, but stopped when he felt his head hurting. It felt like his head was about to splinter apart, he brought his hand to his forward as if to hold it together. “Thanks, that’s kind of you. I think I know what Dave sees in you.” The last part rushed out without Max willing it to.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Mira blushed a little, but chose to ignore it. “You and Dave are a lot alike, you know?”

“How so?”

“Well for one you both have a bit of a disregard for your own health.” She chuckled, gesturing at Max. “I mean you see a giant explosion and still your first thought is to ensure our protection by almost getting your teeth knocked out. And I’m sure you wanted to be the first one back here, to make sure there are no monsters still around?”

Max wanted to deny the last part, but he felt the weight of his weapon in his holster. “I know it’s silly. Ryland or Sarah would’ve been much better at protecting us. But I wanted to be useful too.”

“Oh Max, don’t you tell yourself that you’re not useful. I know how you feel, but just because you don’t fight, doesn’t mean you’re not strong.”

They sat and chatted for a while after that, until Max felt enough strength returning to stand up again. The way back to the camp was short but still filled with pleasant small talk.

Back at the camp Sam almost rushed him, cursing him for running off mid treatment.

Max spent the rest of the day listening with a small headache, slightly bugging at the back of his mind. After Sam was finished lecturing him, Max laid down to get a little rest.

When Dave awoke it was dark all around. After his eyes adjusted to the dim lights, he recognized the infirmary tent he was laying in. They had recently upgraded it, through a Skill Upgrade of Sam, it had been almost free, costing only a single Mana Shard.

The new tent held space for six beds and a small cart that Sam could push around to where he needed it. It held a lot of doctor's tools, but Sam rarely needed it. He was mostly relying on his Skills, although his sense for preparation never left him.

A familiar and expected message popped up in Dave’s vision. Once again the window itself was perfectly lit by its own soft blue light, but the surrounding stayed black as night.

*Congratulations, your Skill Zeus Punishment has reached Level 3.*

Feeling happy about the message, Dave swung his legs out of his bed and made to leave the infirmary, other than a slight headache, he felt good. Comfortable as the field beds were, he would rather sleep the rest of the night in his own tent.

As he moved between the beds, he saw another shape in the bed across from him.

The dim moonlight that the moon outside provided, was barely enough for Dave to make out the shape of a bushy tail sticking out of the linen of their field bed. The memory of Bixby’s motionless form on the ground, and the crunching noise his body made, was enough to make Dave flinch.

Hopefully Bixby would be okay. Dave lingered for a second before he turned to leave the tent, but apparently that was long enough.

“Why are you staring at me Dave?” Bixby asked in a raspy voice.

Dave's eyes grew wide in surprise. “How did you know it was me?”

“Your smell.”

Dave chuckled at that. “That bad, is it?”

Bixby returned his chuckle, but his was more throaty. “Well for a human you’re okay.”

“Then I’m reassured.” Dave said sarcastically.

There was a beat of silence after Dave finished talking.

“Your Skill, it’s more than rare, isn’t it Dave?” Bixby asked finally.

“Uhh.. yeah. Epic actually.” Dave said, taken aback by the unexpected question, but proud about it nevertheless.

In the dim light Dave could see some movement where Bixby’s head should be. A nod perhaps. “I thought so. I’ve only glimpsed pieces of the destruction you’ve done, but the Skill seemed to be more than monstrous.”

“Thanks I guess? It’s my first epic one actually, I’ve tried to use it in training a few times, but it worked differently then.” Dave shrugged.

He was even more surprised than his friend about the power his Skill had. Sure it was Epic grade, but it seemed almost too strong.

“From Epic grade onward Skills work a little differently.” Bixby said, his voice regaining composure. “They only release their whole potential in a real fight, otherwise they would be too devastating to use in regular training.”

That made sense to Dave, if every time he used Zeus Punishment in training, a whole patch of forest would simply get destroyed, it would quickly get out of hand. Zeus' Punishment had seemed strong even before in training, but now he had a more accurate assessment for his new Skill.

“You’re lucky to already have an Epic rarity Skill by the way Dave.” Bixby said, bringing Dave out of his musings. “Most cultivators on the second rank are fighting to get their hands on an Epic Skill, that you already have one so early is a huge boon.”

Dave nodded. Usually he would feel pride, but instead he only felt extra pressure. Getting a headstart isn’t worth anything if you can’t maintain it, so now he just had to work even harder to keep his advantage. And he knew he still wasn’t any match for Markiel or Lukanst, not even with his new Epic rarity Skill.

“How much stronger will the waves grow now?” Dave asked concerned. The golem had been way stronger than expected, sure they hadn’t faced him together from the beginning, but still it had been a big hurdle.

Bixby thought for a second before responding. “Well they will keep growing stronger as before, but I think the next few waves will be manageable.” By now there wasn’t any sickness in his voice anymore. “There was always one attack every few waves that was a bit stronger than the others, think about the Goblins. The first few waves following those were always a bit weaker, but they gradually surpassed their last boss wave.”

“Wait a second, there are boss waves?” Dave asked incredulously.

“Yes it seems so. In the beginning I wasn’t sure what kind of spawner the Nodefoxes had built, but it seems to be one of the rarer subtypes, since everything indicates that it also generates boss waves.” Even in the dark Bixby could feel the questioning look from Dave, so he continued. “Boss waves are pretty much like normal waves, only stronger. Spawners pull in a slight overflow of Mana from their surrounding ambience. Every now and then the overflowing Mana will get channeled into a bigger wave, a boss wave. Those can come in many forms, but they will always be significantly stronger than the waves before them, which makes them dangerous.”

Dave nodded, it made sense. Not just Bixby’s explanation about it, but it immediately made sense to his gamer mind that there would be such a thing as boss waves.

“So the golem was that much stronger because he pretty much was an overflow in Mana?” Dave asked, wanting to be sure.

“Right so.”

“Well at least that means the next few waves will be a little easier on the others.” Dave said. “Still, who knows how strong the next boss wave will be…”

Bixby sighed. “Yes, you’re right. We should meet with Max tomorrow, I think we need to discuss a few things.”

Dave nodded. Shortly after that he left the tent, leaving Bixby to get the sleep he needed, and heading over to his tent to do the same.

He was in a sourer mood than usual. So far he had taken the monster waves pretty easy, he had even embraced their challenge, little though it may have been. Dave knew that they would get into trouble one day with their increasing difficulty, but it had always been a distant fear. Now with boss monsters getting that strong, he felt more worried about their future than ever before.