Zach and Savreen stood at the edge of the tunnel, calm and collected. While behind them, scarecrows sprawled on the ground, returning back to their lifeless state. Zach gazed down and more were coming. He glanced at Savreen and deep down he was amazed by her new prowess. She was like a different woman. She fought like a veteran on the battlefield and he wondered what actually did she went through when they were apart for those two weeks.

“Can you not stare?” Savreen said. Her eyes never left the sight of those creatures climbing up the cliffside.

He smirked and turned back to the climbing scarecrows. “It’s a long way down,” he said. “You need an arm or—“

“I can handle it,” she said. Not a second too late, she leaped off the edge and it took Zach by surprise. He was about to grab onto her, but he held back. His eyes went wide as he saw an incredible feat.

Savreen bounced against the air, taking herself down as her glowing knife decimated the climbing scarecrows. She was quick and precise. Her blade cut through those straws like they were nothing.

Zach gazed carefully and saw the trick behind her descent. With a little bit of aid from the moonlight of this dungeon, he saw the subtle shape of platforms that was as if made out of the moonlight itself.

“That’s a useful skill,” Zach said. He envied her a bit. A mobility skill was definitely a useful skill that could enhance one’s capability in many different spectrums, be it for offense or for saving one’s life.

“I guess that’s what I get for being stubborn,” Zach said, shaking his head. He stored his swords and took a single step forward. Gravity took over, sending him to the ground with the increasing velocity hastening his descent. But he stopped midway. He grabbed a climbing scarecrow and latched on to it.

The scarecrow glanced behind and locked its empty eye socket with Zach. The man smiled. He took out one of those broken daggers and stabbed the scarecrow in the back multiple times until he heard something break. Its grips loosened, and again, he continued to fall.

Zach slowed his descent, repeating the same thing over and over again. Dwindling down the number of his enemies to end this last wave and before he knew it, he was back on the ground. But now wasn’t the time for a breather. He changed his weapon and the two swords made their appearance. The edge of the blade cut a leaping scarecrow in two as he followed with a kick to the face of a scarecrow that was gunning for his feet.

Zach had entered the battlefield. Hundreds of these scarecrows had surrounded him from all sides, throwing themselves at Zach with no concern for their own lives. Zach danced with his glowing crimson blade, ending their lives one by one. Despite the difference in numbers, Zach had the upper hand. His speed was quicker, killing them off before their attacks could even come close, and even when some of them got lucky, their hits were meaningless against the armor shrouded all over his body. The protection of lunarite metal was nothing to be scoffed at and with their level of attacks, none could put a dent in his health points.

He glanced at the far right. Savreen was holding on by herself extremely well as she kept launching herself up and down, using the invisible platform to the best of her ability. She took them out by the dozen before going back up again to dodge the instant swarm of scarecrows from all sides. Again, he envied her for that skill. ‘Is she really a priest?’ he questioned. For a class titled Moon Priest, she looked more like a versatile rogue class rather than a benevolent healing class. But he didn’t question her healing capability as the books he read narrated how incredible the moon priest’s healing capability was as it was the main reason for their past territory’s prosperity.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The shadows engulfed him from above. His vision towards Savreen was blocked as a swarm of scarecrows jumped in unison blocking everything in sight. Zach squatted down, tensing the muscles of his thighs. Then he burst into a single leap, breaking through the swarm up above him as he hovered for a slight second in the air. Even without an invisible platform, he would make do with his physical capability. Zach bit through the flesh of his palm and he bled. His stats boosted and he returned back to the ground, raining havoc upon these scarecrows.

His crimson blades sliced everything in front of him and a shout echoed from behind.

“Watch out!”

He turned and saw a tree coming at him from the sky. He leaped and the massive tree with its roots still intact smashed against the scarecrows underneath. He glanced from where it came and saw a few dozen scarecrows uprooting small trees and throwing at him like a catapult in a medieval siege.

‘They’re good,’ Zach thought. Those who swarmed at him were the vanguards and those at the back readied their ammo to take him down by surprise. Their tactics were improving as the battle went on and he feared what might happen if he let time go on.

Zach smashed a scarecrow with the sole of his boot as he was back on the ground. He didn’t stand and battle as he bled himself again, boosting his speed and strength to another level, paving a path as he reached towards those ‘long-range’ scarecrows.

Yet right before he could reach them he heard a scream. He turned his head and saw Savreen falling back to the ground, different from her usual attacking motion. He wasn’t the only one being targeted by the trees as Savreen narrowly dodged a hurling tree but fell as she misstepped.

Zach didn’t think twice and changed his direction. He still remembered the promise he made with Bulan and he wasn’t going to break it. He leaped over the scarecrows and did what he saw in the movies back on modern earth. He ran on top of these scarecrows’ heads as he dashed towards Savreen.

Then a blinding light spilled through the gaps of the swarming scarecrows from where Savreen fell and something exploded. A gust of wind blew against him and he was thrown to the ground along with the rest of the scarecrows near the light.

He got up and stared at the woman encased in the light of the moon. Her eyes shone brightly, brimming with moonlight. Zach stared in awe as well as worried. But a second later, the worries went away.

Savreen raised her glowing dagger in the air before thrusting it back to the ground in a single motion. Out of nowhere, pillars of light rained down on the scarecrows like a barrage of lasers coming from the sky. He looked up and that thought might not be that far off.

The moon of the dungeon was on their side or to be more precise, Savreen’s side as the big rock sent beam after beam of intense light, vanquishing these scarecrows from their very existence. He thought the firepower wouldn’t be that high considering the ground and the grass was left intact, but boy he was wrong. The moment those beams engulfed these scarecrows whole, he saw them disintegrating until nothing was left.

‘Hmm?’ Zach jumped to the side and rolled on the ground. The place where he stood just now was engulfed in bright moonlight. His momentary awe at the might of these moonbeams made his mind lax and it almost cost him. He glanced at the back of his boot and noticed some part of it had been shaved clean. His blood ran cold as he didn’t want to imagine what would happen if he stood at the center of that beam.

‘Note to myself, the beams do not recognize foe or allies, or is it Savreen don’t count me as a comrade,’ he wondered. Zach made a break for it, running around like an ant in danger as if the moon was targeting him at will.

After thirty seconds or so, it stopped. Zach panted for his breath as he looked around at the elegant annihilation of the moon’s beams. Two-thirds of the scarecrows numbers were eliminated and those that survived were currently in a state of confusion. He didn’t know why they were confused, but he wasn’t just going to stand there. His eyes were brought back to Savreen as the sole moon priest had now fallen back to the ground unconscious. He raced towards her and snatched her by the waist. The moment he did, the leftover scarecrows regained back their sole purpose. They gave chase as Zach leaped in the air and stabbed his sword right through the trunk of a giant tree. He climbed and reached the canopy. He continued to flee, jumping from one branch to another, putting a distance between him and the leftover scarecrow’s horde.

As he ran, he looked at the unconscious girl in his arm and shook his head.

‘Shit, I’m jealous.’