“I’m always trying to show versatility. I’m juggling, and I’m flipping fire, and I’m chewing gum and rhyming at the same time… on a unicycle, while playing the drums.”
MF Doom, English Musician
Milly hurled her twin bolts of blue fire straight for the harpy’s eyes. The flames scorched with angry energy as they tore through the air towards their target. The harpy saw the attack coming and could easily dodge the blasts given the distance and its speed.
Milly expected this. The moment the twin bolts left her palms, she began to weave together fire and air into a lightning strike. She waited patiently as her fire streaked towards the harpy.
Right or left? Come on, show me which direction you’ll dodge.
Unblinking eyes focused intently on her enemy, Milly held her attack until she detected a faint trace of the beast’s intentions – an almost imperceptible dip of the harpy’s left wing only detectable with the benefits of Improved Perception.
Milly released her lightning towards the air on the harpy’s left side.
The power that cascaded across the sky was not that of a single bolt, but of the whole storm. Seven distinct lightning strikes arched towards the beast – the crack of their explosive energy reverberating across the mountainside.
Preoccupied with dodging the fire, the harpy didn’t see the attack until it was too late. It flew straight into the blast. Four lightning strikes tore into its wings and chest, the remainder arcing beyond their battleground and lighting up the afternoon sky. The harpy squawked in outrage as its flesh sizzled.
“Stay here Coco,” Milly ordered, and before the capybara had time to protest, Milly leapt from the platform and propelled herself towards the harpy with air channeled beneath her feet.
She had tried this once before, when she had leapt atop the dragon, but this time her advanced air magic gave her greater control over her ascent. She was able to delicately maneuver in mid-air with tiny blasts and keep herself aloft with larger ones. It wasn’t true flight – not yet – but it allowed her to soar through the air like a multistage rocket.
My lightning hurt the beast – I can smell its scorched feathers and flesh – but this battle isn’t over yet, and I can’t fight from that tiny platform while it controls the skies. It leaves me too exposed and limits my options. Makes me too predictable. Plus, it’s used to hunting prey on the ground, so I’ll bring the fight to its domain.
Milly channeled her water magic to freeze the air around the harpy, causing frost and shards of ice to form across its wings. It slowed the creature just enough for Milly to launch herself over its head with another blast of air at her feet, giving her a clear view of its back.
Now, let’s see what this advanced fire can really do.
Extending both palms towards the monster, Milly called upon her fire. She didn’t bother to shape it into bolts or fireballs. She released it as a single scorching wave that rolled through the air and blanketed the harpy in an inferno – an airborne flamethrower that boiled the world around them.
The outraged cry of the harpy cut through the roar of the flames as its feathers burned.
Milly felt sweat bead her brow as she struggled to hold the fire steady while trying to control the speed of her gravity-driven descent.
This should do it. Just a few more… shit!
The harpy flew straight through the flames, its talons aimed straight for Milly’s neck. Half of its feathers were seared down to their quills, but that hadn’t been enough to stop it – only slow it down.
Milly cursed as she ended her flames and tried to dodge, blasting herself away from its grasp. The harpy missed her neck by inches, but its trailing talon raked across Milly’s back from shoulder to thigh, slicing through her gown and digging a half-inch trench through her skin and into muscle and fat.
She screamed in agony as she plummeted towards the mountainside below, already channeling Healer’s Touch towards the wound to stem the bleeding. A last-second blast of air served to slow her descent towards the ground, but the harpy had already rounded and was now diving towards her, its talons outstretched for the kill.
Time to get creative, Milly. Combine an old and new trick. Here we go.
Milly waited until the last moment – until the harpy’s claws and the oncoming mountainside were a heartbeat away. She didn’t want to give the harpy time to counter what she wanted to do.
She channeled two magics, one after the other. Using earth, she manipulated the surface of the mountain to create dozens of giant narrow spikes that rose up towards both the player and the harpy. Milly knew how to create these – she’d used the same technique to kill the lizardman – though her advanced magic allowed her to generate them in a second instead of a minute.
The harpy saw the spikes forming and flapped its wings hard to slow its momentum, but it was already too late. Milly hadn’t left it any time to react.
At the last possible moment, Milly, for the first time, activated her teleportation magic. Her remaining magic reserves plummeted as it took effect.
She vanished in an instant and reappeared fifty feet above the harpy, her stomach churning from the sudden lurch, as the harpy careened straight into the spikes. A terrible squawk erupted from the creature as it was impaled through its wings and chest, splayed out on the rocks like a pinned insect in a museum collection. It struggled to break free as it bled out on the mountainside.
A warning chirp from Coco echoed in Milly’s mind as she fought to stabilize herself in mid-air.
“I know, Coco,” Milly gasped, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her back. “The system didn’t give me the victory notification. I still need to finish it.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Extending her palms towards the now helpless harpy, Milly called forth lightning, fire, and earth as she bombarded the creature with volley after volley until it no longer moved.
The harpy sagged, and the notification finally appeared.
Congratulations! You have defeated Talon Strike Harpy x 1.
You have been awarded 100,000 experience points.
You have leveled up twice and received four attribute points and a class talent point.
Items Received: Harpy feather x 5, Harpy talon x 2
Gold: 15,400
Milly breathed a sigh of relief as she maneuvered herself back to the platform and landed with a hard thud. Coco snuggled up beside her, concerned.
“I’m… I’m alright, Coco,” Milly assured her, sitting down to catch her breath.
Coco pressed her nose gently against the cut across Milly’s back, and Milly hissed with pain.
“Okay, fine. You’ve made your point. I’m not okay,” she admitted. “Can you keep a lookout while I fix this?”
Coco chirped her agreement and began to patrol the platform, her beady eyes scanning the skies for more predators.
Not that I’d be able to do anything about it if there are more of these things. I’ve got enough magic to heal this cut and get us to the top of the mountain, but after that I’ll be running on fumes.
Milly activated Healer’s Aura. She could sense her regeneration, accelerated by the aura, already starting to slowly heal the wound and soak away the ache in her muscles. With the aura active, her passive ability could heal the injury in two days, but Milly didn’t have that kind of time. She scolded herself, regretting her decision to advance her hand-to-hand combat talent instead of regeneration.
I didn’t punch the damn thing once. I should have finished it off with my fists. I could have absorbed some magic from it.
Coco glanced up at Milly and gave her a short, supportive bark.
“Yah, I know. I’m being too hard on myself. It’s tough not to be, when every mistake could get me gutted like a boar.”
Coco sighed and returned to staring at the sky.
Milly chuckled weakly. She closed her eyes and reached out for Healer’s Touch, directing it to her back. She didn’t have to physically touch the wound anymore – not with the advanced magic, though it was more effective if she did.
Now, while I heal, I need to level up. I only received two levels for defeating the harpy, despite it giving me as much experience as a lizardman. Which means the amount of experience I need to level up is increasing pretty quickly. My rapid advancement on this island might not last for much longer.
She remembered how little experience the goblins around the tower provided her after their foray to the Arena of Protection.
On that first day – when Xavier and I headed out into the wilds – all I had to do was kill a single goblin to get me to level two. Now? I have to fly around like a rocket and take down a massive bird monster with fire and lightning and god damn teleportation tricks. Pretty soon, I’ll need to fight a whole flock of them just to earn one level.
She sighed and resigned herself to that inevitability.
At least I know I can take out one of them now.
Opening her player screen, she quickly dumped her four attribute points into magic, which also slightly replenished her depleted magic reserves.
It didn’t take long for her to decide where to spend her talent point. Coco had proven useful as a lookout, and Milly found herself enjoying the capybara’s company.
Time to embrace the witch, right? Besides, I’m sure Passi would like a pet. Even an undead one.
She selected the Reanimate Beast (beginner) talent from the necromancy web, which, in turn, elevated her Reanimate Rodent talent to advanced. She felt the amount of magic she needed to sustain Coco decrease, and their bond strengthen.
Reanimate Rodent must be a subset of Reanimate Beast talent, which means the beast talent is more versatile than what my witch’s hat grants me. I wonder if…
Milly glanced towards the dead harpy but knew she was out of luck. The beast was far beyond the level allowed to be reanimated by a beginner level magic talent. Milly had a strong suspicion it would even be out of range of the advanced level.
That okay. I didn’t take the talent for the harpy.
“Coco, shuffle over here, will you?” Milly called.
The capybara ambled over and plopped down in front of Milly, her eyes still fixed on the sky.
Milly laid her hands on the capybara’s back.
My advanced reanimate rodent skill didn’t grant me the ability to heal Coco. Not exactly. But it does allow me to redistribute Coco’s flesh to repair external damage. I can break down her unused organs – heart, lungs, and stomach – and use them to close the wounds in her back and head. It means Coco can only be healed so many times before she’ll fell apart, so we’ll have to be careful. Hopefully, the master level magic will have a solution for that.
“Are you okay with this? I mean, it’s not like you’re using your organs anymore,” Milly asked the capybara.
Coco responded with a sad little huff, and Milly scratched behind her ears and got to work.
By the time her own wound had healed, Milly had repaired much of the damage the capybara had sustained from the lizardmen’s torment. All that remained was some faint scar tissue on her back and head where the wounds had once been.
“I guess we have that in common,” Milly sighed, tracing her fingers across the new scar tissue on her back where the harpy’s talon had sliced her open. The cut had been deep, and she’d known her Scarred Witch class wouldn’t let her fully heal from this one. Still, it would be another constant reminder of the horrors of this world. “Come on, let’s get out of here before we have another unwelcome guest.”
Milly channeled her magic into the stone platform, and they resumed their ascent towards the ruins.
Mildred Persephone Brown
Level: 38
Specialty: Survival
Class: The Scarred Witch
Sub-class: Her Inquisitor
Strength:
Base: 40
Enhanced: 51 (+ 4 from Collar of the Victor, +7 from Obsidian Fists)
Agility:
Base: 26
Enhanced: 41 (+15 from Gown of Moon and Stars)
Toughness:
Base: 50
Enhanced: 54 (+4 from Collar of the Victor)
Magic:
Base: 72
Enhanced: 97 (+15 from Gown of Moon and Stars, +2 from Milly's First Witch's Hat, +8 from Luna’s Pendant of Guidance)
Talents:
Elemental Magic - Fire (advanced), Earth (advanced), Water (advanced), Air (advanced)
Healing Magic - Healer's Touch (advanced), Regeneration (beginner), Healer’s Aura (beginner)
Psychic - Telekinesis (advanced)
Necromancy – Reanimate beast (beginner), Reanimate rodent (advanced)
Spatial - Teleportation (advanced)
Combat – Hand-to-hand (advanced)
Exploration – Improved Perception (advanced), Detect Life (#error#)
Sexual – Enhance Performance (beginner)
Unique Talent: Salem’s Fury
Class Talents: No limits, Weaver, Relentless, Outcast, Consequences
Sub-Class Talents: Oracle’s Avatar, Ceaseless Skepticism, Explorer, Warrior Witch, Incorruptible
Equipment Benefits:
Reanimate Rodent (beginner, Witch's Hat)
Oracle’s Divination (beginner, Luna's Pendant of Guidance)
Mana Absorption (beginner, Obsidian Fists)
Improved Perception (beginner, Milly’s Gothic Boots)
See the Unseen (#error#, Spectacles of Hidden Design)
Locate Corruption (#error#, Spectacles of Hidden Design)