"Holy shit, you took a ton of damage!" said Tahsi Junior. "Do you need any healing? I can heal you, I'm pretty good at it."

"No thanks," said Isabelle. "I've got a ton of hp, it's fine."

"Really?" said Tahsi Junior. "Because I'm really good at healing. It's a pretty advantageous thing for a fight like this, you know. Healers can be instrumental to success in the battleground."

"I don't care," said Isabelle. "I'm not dying today, anyway."

"Hey, I think that's a good idea," said Tahsi Junior. "I don't want to die either, you know. I don't think I've ever died before."

"You haven't?" asked Isabelle.

"Nope," said Tahsi Junior. "I'm still alive."

"Wow," said Isabelle. "Fucking profound."

Another huge ray of red light shot out from the giant head of the cyclops, battering Isabelle and Tahsi Junior with damage.

[-25 hp]

[Tahsi Junior -15 hp]

"Why'd you take less damage than me?" asked Isabelle.

"I didn't," said Tahsi Junior. "If anything, you should be asking why I took more damage than you did relative to the attack radius. You were right in the cyclops' line of fire, whereas I was standing off to the left."

"Oh," said Isabelle. "That makes sense."

"So, should we just run away?" asked Tahsi Junior.

"I don't think so," said Isabelle. She'd killed a giant before. How bad could this cyclops be, really? "Let's give him a taste of his own medicine."

She raised her hand and thought, 'Cast Ice Blast.'

[Mana 95%]

The ice sputtered over the cyclops' body, dissipating without much effect at all.

[2 damage dealt]

"Damn it!" said Isabelle. "That did almost no damage at all!"

"I told you it's magic resistant!" said Tahsi Junior.

"Yeah, but I was expecting something better, considering that I'm such a high level," said Isabelle.

"Well, why not try again, then?" said Tahsi Junior.

Isabelle nodded, raised her hand and thought, 'Cast Shoot Lightning.'

A blue bolt of lightning shot out of Isabelle's finger and struck the cyclops directly on its head.

[Critical hit]

"Yes!" said Isabelle.

[3 damage dealt]

"Oh my god," said Isabelle. "This is such bullshit. I've literally exploded peoples' heads with that spell, and this cyclops looks completely unfazed."

"It's probably because he's a giant cyclops," said Tahsi Junior. "As opposed to a regular sized one, I mean."

"There are regular sized cyclops?" asked Isabelle.

"Hey, why don't you focus on fighting instead of arguing?" asked Stelas.

"Anyway, how about you try another spell?" said Tahsi Junior. "Maybe it'll work better this time."

"I'm not going to try another fucking spell!" said Isabelle. "Why the fuck do you think I should cast another spell?"

"Because it's what you're supposed to do when your spells aren't working!" said Tahsi Junior.

"Shut up, you idiot," said Isabelle. "I don't need to be told what to do." She equipped her hook swords.

[Adult Golden Dragon Hooksword x2 equipped]

[+3 fire damage]

[+8 damage]

[+5 stm]

[+3 dx]

"But you are!" said Tahsi Junior. "You're supposed to keep casting spells until they start working. If you don't, you might as well be dead."

"I'm not going to keep casting spells if they don't work," said Isabelle.

"That's fucking absurd."

Before Tahsi Junior could sputter any more opinions at her, Isabelle leapt towards the cyclops' enormous, stinky foot

[Stamina 98%]

She swung her hook swords around the giant cyclops' leg.

[201 damage dealt]

[55 fire damage dealt]

"That's it?" said Isabelle. That was a lot less damage than she'd done in a long, long time.

Isabelle felt the swords sink into the cyclops' flesh, and she used her hands to pull them back out. The blades came out cleanly, without even leaving a scratch.

"Well, shit," said Isabelle. "I guess I'm not going to get anywhere with these hook swords."

"Try using your fists instead," said Tahsi Junior. "Or maybe your feet."

"Stop giving me advice," said Isabelle. "My melee combat level isn't very high, anyway."

Before Isabelle could bicker any more, she noticed that the cyclops was raising its awful, hairy foot high in the air. It was preparing to stomp down on her!

"I don't think so!" said Isabelle. She leaped backwards, rolled onto her feet and jumped back up towards the cyclops' shin.

She swung her hook swords wildly, trying to cut the cyclops wherever she could.

"No!" said Tahsi Junior. "Don't jump towards it!"

"What?" said Isabelle as her hook swords implanted into the beast's shin. It groaned in fury, shaking its leg in a futile attempt to send her flying away. "Why not? What was wrong with jumping towards the cyclops?"

"Because it will probably crush you!" said Tahsi Junior.

Ironically, not soon after he said this, the cyclops lowered its foot and trampled Tahsi Junior with three strong stomps, and it was all Isabelle could do to hang there on its shin and watch.

[Tahsi Junior -12 hp]

[Tahsi Junior -22 hp]

[Tahsi Junior -33 hp]

"I can't believe I got crushed like that!" said Tahsi Junior. "I feel like it should've hurt me more than it did. Like, shouldn't some of my limbs be mashed out of place by now? Like, that probably ought to have killed me, hadn't it?"

"You should have been more careful," said Isabelle. "But that's how the system works. Whenever you take damage, you just lose hp. Your dad has literally had so many arrows buried in his skin that he looked like a pincushion, and he was totally fine. Hell, I've had weapons go straight through my eyes to no effect other than a critical hit and a loss of hp."

"That's… that's pretty fucked up," said Tahsi Junior. "How does that even work?"

"It's kind of like a video game," said Isabelle. "Whenever you take damage, your HP goes down, and you recover it over time."

"What the fuck is a video game?" asked Tahsi Junior.

Isabelle cursed under her breath. She'd forgotten that, as video game-like as Beaubinte could sometimes be with its systems, nobody living there actually knew what a video game was. Isabelle looked up to the cyclops, and then immediately regretted doing so, because it was apparently only wearing a loose loin cloth and her current position perched with her hook swords on its shin gave her a clear view of some rather unsightly bodily intricacies.

"Just forget I said anything," said Isabelle.

"Okay," said Tahsi Junior. "So why did I take damage from that again?"

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. Was this kid ever going to stop asking questions? "Because you were right next to the cyclops when it stomped! It stomped on you, so it hurt you!" said Isabelle.

"But, like, none of my bones are broken or anything? And my body feels totally fine and not at all like I jujst got stepped on? It's just kind of confusing," said Tahsi Junior.

"I literally just explained why! Jesus! Were you born yesterday or something?" asked Isabelle.

"Um, actually I was born four whole days ago, thank you very much," said Tahsi Junior. "Also, I believe the proper term isn't really born, it's hatched. You humans can be pretty speciesist sometimes, gods."

"Whatever," said Isabelle. "Anyway, it's just like how you can be shot by an arrow but not die unless you have really low hp and it crits."

"Oh, that makes sense," said Tahsi Junior. "Yeah, I guess that does make sense. I mean, if you're shot by an arrow, you might bleed out, but you won't die unless your life points are super low."

"No, you're not getting it!" said Isabelle. "You won't bleed out! Other than a few cosmetic blood splatters here and there you'll essentially end up unscathed as long as your hp doesn't hit zero."

"Wait, so you can get shot and not die?" asked Tahsi Junior.

"Yes! Yes! A thousand mother fucking times, already, yes!" said Isabelle. "Look, I'm gonna need you to shut up for a second while I think about how I'm going to kill this cyclops, okay?"

"Uh, sure," said Tahsi Junior. "I don't mind. Not a problem at all. Don’t mind me.”

Isabelle gritted her teeth. The hook swords on the cyclops's shin were digging into her fingers, and she was starting to get worried that they might start to slip. She needed to focus.

[Notice: Use stamina for extra battle focus?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought yes.

[Stamina 90%]

Isabelle watched as time slowed down in that all too familiar way. Now, worst case scenario, she at least had a little more time to figure things out before she lost her grip. She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Then, she focused further on the cyclops' upper leg and thigh, doing her absolute best to not look at its crotch. She could slowly but surely see a faint green pathway trickle across her vision, showing her a pathway of skin tags, moles, and odd body hairs that she could tentatively utilize to scale the cyclops' leg. It was her best bet at this point to climb up the behemoth and try to attack it at a weak point, like its chest, or its neck, or its forehead, or its temples, or its... or its groin, Isabelle realized with disgust.

She watched as the green pathway reorganized itself to snake its way around the cyclops' thigh and lead her up to the cyclops' enormous gonads. This was going to be rough, but if she could make her way up there Isabelle was sure she could land a pretty whopping critical hit.

Isabelle tightened her grip on the hook swords and pushed herself off the cyclops' leg. Her first attempt failed miserably, but her second attempt was successful enough that she managed to climb up onto its knee.

[15 damage dealt]

[2 fire damage dealt]

[Stamina 72%]

Isabelle clasped her hook swords, now digging into the cyclops' knee. It frustrated her to no end that she was doing so little damage, but Isabelle needed to concentrate on what was more important. She looked at the glowing green pathway up to the cyclops' gargantuan cojones and took a deep breath.

"Fuck you, you fucker," Isabelle whispered under her breath. "Fucking fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!"

Isabelle felt a bit better after that. She couldn't help but smile as she stared up at the giant pair of balls. They were bigger than her head. Hell, even one of them was bigger than her whole body. Isabelle's jaw dropped open in awe as she saw that the green pathway had formed a perfect circle around the cyclops' testicles.

"Wow," said Isabelle. "I mean, wow."

The green pathway glowed brighter and stronger, and Isabelle began to feel an intense heat coming from it. She was still hanging on to the hook swords, and she found that her hands were starting to get sweaty. She clenched her fists, trying to fight back the heat that was

building inside her.

"This is it," Isabelle muttered to herself. "It's finally happening."

[Stamina 13%]

Isabelle tried to focus on the cyclops' genitals, but she kept feeling dizzy and nauseous. Her vision started to blur, and she felt a burning sensation in her stomach.

[Stamina 5%]

"Oh shit," said Isabelle. "This isn't good."

[Stamina 0%]

Isabelle let go of the hook swords and fell backwards, landing hard on the ground.

[-12 hp]

Isabelle's vision went black.

[You are going to faint]

[You’ve fainted]

[Achievement unlocked: pass out due to stamina loss]

[Combat mode deactivated]

[Achievement Unlocked: Faint during a fight]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[You have been revived]

[You will awaken soon]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[You will now awaken]

Isabelle woke up to the sound of laughter.

"You're awake!" exclaimed Tahsi Junior. "That's great news, Isabelle! I'm so glad you're okay."

She could barely remember what happened. She looked around, and smiled. There was the beautiful black and white speckled face of Lugano, her beloved horse! Lugano sniffed her in his familar horsey way, and it brightened Isabelle's mood greatly.

"How are you feeling?" asked Tahsi Junior.

"I feel fine," replied Isabelle. "What happened? The system says I passed out due to stamina loss."

"So that's what it was!" said Tahsi Junior. "You would not believe all the health spells I kept trying to cast on you to essentially no effect. So it was my stamina restoration spell that did the trick. Nice. But, seriously, it was really weird how it all went down, though. You were looking all badass for a second there, I mean you literally were moving around like some sort of crazed superhuman, but then you just stopped, fell down and passed out."

Isabelle's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"Yeah, well, it was a lot of work getting up there, and even more work to figure out where to go," Isabelle said. "I didn't realize I was using up so much stamina."Tahsi Junior gave Isabelle a curious look.

"You know," she said, "you seem different somehow."

"Different how?" asked Isabelle.

"Well, you've always seemed kind of timid and shy, but now you seem…determined," said Tahsi Junior. "Whatever it is, I think we can count on you to help us defeat this cyclops."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" asked Isabelle. She looked at the burlap sack tied to the side of Lugano's saddle. "Stelas, would you ever describe me as 'timid' or 'shy?'"

"No, never," said Stelas. "But I'd say you're a gods damned head severing bitch, that's for sure."

"Shut up," said Isabelle. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Okay, okay," said Tahsi Junior. "Let's get back to business. The business of the cyclops, that is."

"The cyclops is still here?" asked Isabelle. She looked up and, indeed, there the beast was. It was just kind of standing there, though, and she wasn't in combat mode for whatever reason.

"Yes, he is," said Tahsi Junior. "He's not doing anything, which is why we're able to chat right now."

"Why aren't you in combat mode?" asked Isabelle. "Hell, why aren't I in combat mode?"

"Well, I think he's not really angry right now because he found the fact that you passed out while staring at his balls hilarious," said Tahsi Junior.

"Wait, what?" said Isabelle. "You're serious?" She'd forgotten about how she'd managed to lose consciousness, and with the embarrassment Isabelle was feeling she kind of wished she hadn't been reminded.

"Oh yeah, I'm totally serious," said Tahsi Junior. "It was hilarious. He was laughing so hard that he couldn't do anything else."

"Well, that's good," said Isabelle. "Still, usually enemies take just

about any opportunity to attack when we're in a fight. It's just kind of odd."

"I think I can clear this up," said the deep, booming voice of the cyclops. "Seeing you pass out while staring at my balls was just the bit of levity I needed right about now, and it made me rethink my behavior I am, after all, the most powerful being in this entire world, and I should be more mindful of my actions."

"He is not the most powerful being in the world," said Tahsi Junior under his breath. "Even I know that."

"That's great," said Isabelle to the cyclops. "I'm glad you've changed your ways. But also, you can fucking talk? Why is this the first time you've talked to us instead of just attacking?"

"Um, because none of you tried talking to me," said the cyclops.

"Plus, I was really angry because that pipsqueak you keep talking to set my house on fire after I'd so kindly let him stay the night while trying to...gods, what was it...while trying to make fucking toast, of all things. Really, you shouldn't associate yourself with him, he's an idiot."

Isabelle looked from the cyclops to Tahsi Junior. "Is he telling the truth, Tahsi Junior?" She put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, he is," said Tahsi Junior. "It's actually kind of sad, but it's true."

"I can't believe this," said Isabelle. She looked back up at the cyclops. "So, uh, are you still mad at him?"

"Oh, yes, terribly so," said the cyclops. "But I don't think it's worth terrorizing you over, honestly. I always considered myself a pacifist before this, so really I'm pretty ashamed at how I was acting what with the attacking you and everything."

"That's great," said Isabelle. "I'm glad you're not going to hurt us anymore. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go have a little chat with my horse."

"That's an odd thing to say, but okay," boomed the cyclops. "Guess I'm going to make the fairly long trek back to my people to start rebuilding my home. Don't consider asking for a quest request to help me or anything, even though it would be really nice of you."

But Isabelle didn't take the time to wonder whether she was being shamed by the cyclops, or whether she was being flattered. Instead, she simply ran up to her horse and hopped onto its back. "Hey, Lugano," said Isabelle. "We're leaving."

Lugano snorted and scuffed a hoof into the ground in preparation.

"Oh thank the gods," said Tahsi Junior. "This cyclops makes me so uncomfortable. He keeps staring at me with his one eye. It's creepy as fuck." Tahsi Junior hopped on top of Lugano, too, causing the horse to snort and buckle in discomfort.

"Ow!" cried out the false prince, who was still tied to Lugano's back.

"You just sat your scaly ass on my neck!"

"Yea, get off the horse, Tahsi Junior," said Isabelle. "Can't you just fly? You know, with your wings?"

"Fine, meanies," said Tahsi Junior. He climbed down from the horse and landed on the ground.

"Well, well, well," said the cyclops. "Looks like we're not the only ones here, now."

"I've got to admit, I thought you were bullshitting me when you told me about the airships," said Isabelle to the false prince. "But I guess you weren't."

The false prince shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Do you think they'll drop another package with anti-magic fields for us?" asked Isabelle.

"I don't know about that," said the cyclops. "I'm getting a bit of a hostile vibe from them. Of course, I'm not going to engage, as I'm a pacifist, but that's the vibe I'm getting."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Yea, okay, thanks for your input."

"Anyway," said the cyclops, "I hope you find what you're looking for. I'll be heading back to my people now. Take care of yourselves."

"Thanks," said Isabelle.

The cyclops walked further away into the distance as the airship hovered over Isabelle and her willing and unwilling companions.

Isabelle saw a glowing blue light flash from the bottom of the ship. The light grew bigger and bigger as it shot down, down towards Isabelle. She felt the ground shake as the ship descended, then the shaking stopped abruptly.

"What was that?" asked Isabelle.

"I don't know," said the false prince. "I thought it was some sort of bomb or something."

[Use of mana has been disabled]

"What the fuck?" said Isabelle. "My system says I can't use mana now?"

"It must be because you're using so much of it," said the false prince. "Maybe there's a limit?"

"Oh, please," said Isabelle. "I know how to manage my mana."

"Guys!" said Tahsi Junior. "The ship is lowering! I have a bad feeling about this."

Isabelle watched as the ship got lower in the air. She could see third warriors clad with dragon armor standing on its edge. One of them drew a longsword, another drew a bow, and the third whipped out what looked to be some sort of firebomb.

"Oh fuck," said Isabelle. She was not ready, mentally or emotionally, for another fucking fight.

[Combat mode activated]