A large, spindly beast stood on two short, furry legs within reach of him. It wailed ruthlessly against a wall that was mirrored on one side, but transparent on the other. The wall was only thing standing between Sen and a gory death. The Heroc could no longer see Sen but was enraged at seeing its mirrored self in the reflection of the wall. Sen had thought it was all over for him when he heard the quick, predatory footsteps and turned to see it lunging at him.
August was always ready and had sensed the beast coming, though its speed left not much room for error, and it had come from the shadows rather than its usual resting place in the treetops.
“Get him out.” August said calmly to Zulli. He conjured a large steel greatsword that nearly matched the mirrored wall in its sheen. As with all his conjured weapons seen so far, the entirety of the weapon was made of steel, thanks to his Steel Essence’s synergy with his Arsenal Essence. His Steel Essence had awakened an ability called Shine, which allowed him to transform his or his allies’ weapons into a temporary magical steel version of that weapon. The Arsenal Essence on the other hand, awakened an ability to conjure his own weapons. The Shine ability passively augmented his Conjure Weapon ability, allowing a synergistic culmination to ultimately conjure his magical, fully-steel weapons. The steel was both lighter and stronger than conventionally forged steel. Sen had no idea that the mace August had conjured during training was as light of a weapon as August could manage.
The Heroc’s silver rank perception could see a pesky nuisance charging at him in the reflection of the now cracked and broken mirror, which was also one of August’s abilities awakened by the Steel essence. Herocs were amalgamated monsters equivalent to a werewolf combined with eagle, or perhaps a vulture, but in the worst ways. Their arms and legs were proportionate to an eagle’s wings and legs, with feathers dotting their hides in no particular pattern. They did not have wings, but their arms were incredibly long and gangly in comparison to their short, stubby hind legs. Underneath their arms, an elastic patch of skin connected to the torso, covered in feathers. This allowed them not the power of flight, but let them glide down from treetops on suspecting prey with pinpoint accuracy. Their fingers and toes ended in sharp, gnarled talons used to latch onto their victims and not let go. The short beaks at the end of their canine, toothy faces were not exactly made to kill, but Herocs found them quite useful in scooping out flesh to be lapped up by their long tongues.
As August bounded forward, chitinous plates grew from his brown leather armor, reflecting a gold and green sheen from the rays of sunlight passing through the canopy of leaves overhead. The chitin covered most of his armor, making him look like a sword-wielding beetle warrior straight from 90’s Japanese television. He swung his sword with both hands in a wide horizontal arc when he approached the monster.
The Heroc was already swinging its own long arm, attempting a large swipe toward August on his approach. They collided, sword striking claw. August seemed to match the Heroc in relative strength, but the Heroc had a size advantage, being about three times August’s size, with most of that size attributed to its arms alone. Its hand recoiled in reaction to being stricken by the large sword. August let go of his sword with one hand, allowing it to slice into the ground as he pointed his free hand at the monster. A steel hand-crossbow appeared in his free hand, and he shot at the monster’s face, throwing the crossbow away immediately. The bolt of the crossbow stuck into the Heroc’s snout, prompting a gnarly squeal that resembled annoyance rather than pain. The Heroc tactfully pulled the bolt out of its face between the talons of its thumb and forefinger. Prompted by the given moment, August spat from his mouth a gout of vile yellow liquid. Once the liquid covered the monster’s face and shoulders, it took a moment to realize it was burning through its fur and feathers, and into its flesh.
The Heroc was effectually dazed by the concurrent series of attacks, and saw a massive sword being swung overhead, impending demise on its behalf. It jumped back a little too late and suffered a deep gash from its shoulder down half of its chest.
Most monsters were stupid, crazed, and ultimately self-destructive, and compared to many silver ranked monsters, the Heroc was just that. But even the dullest of silver rank monsters contained an inherent sense of intellectuality and self-preservation. The Heroc jumped back from August’s onslaught in this effort to preserve itself.
Sen had watched August’s combo of blows from behind the safety of the crumbling magical mirror between him and the monster. His attention was brought back to the Springe Wisp when Zulli fired a dazzling beam of light at it from the tip of her wand. The wisp melted away from the beam as Zulli used her Wand’s charged ability, Cosmic Consonance. The caricature of an exploding star surrounded by a thick circle shone in light underneath her, covering meters of the ground around her. This ritual circle boosted the effects of her cosmic abilities which were already boosted when channeled through her wand: Conquered Comet.
“I think August might be the coolest one here.” Sen said to Zulli as she helped him up. They both squared their bodies toward the monster, that was now having a glaring contest with August. Zulli could see the monster making glances at them as it thought about its next move. It didn’t seem like it wanted to run away and was also too wounded to attack recklessly.
August saw Zulli put down her ritual circle, and assumed she would attempt to stand her ground there. Instead of commanding her to retreat, he decided to act in accordance with her plan. When he saw Sen down his mana potion, he all but confirmed the two intended to fight a silver-rank monster they didn’t have the slightest chance of killing. It was August’s sole duty to protect the two on their way to Silverwind, and he intended on doing it. He watched the monster as they strafed each other in a circle. Once the monster had put itself between the two outworlders and the elite bronze rank adventurer, he finally decided to execute his plan.
August held his greatsword in one hand and conjured another steel crossbow, but this time the crossbow was more the size of a siege weapon. He stabbed his greatsword into the ground, burying it to the hilt. As if on cue, Zulli sent a powerful, though still iron-rank, beam of light at the monster, which took its attention. The beam was far too weak to blind the Heroc with its silver rank resilience, but after a few seconds of being pelted by the annoying blast, it decided its next target. It leaped out at Zulli with incredible speed, faster than August had predicted. Its arms spread wide, talons spread on all limbs. Both Sen and Zulli barely had any time to feel any fear as the gangly giant displayed its massive wingspan, a practiced maneuver it had used many times on unsuspecting prey. When Zulli finally felt the shock of being the prey in question, she pulled back her wand instinctively. She felt Sen’s unarmored hand on her shoulder opposite him as he pulled her in, raising his right arm, his only defense, to take whatever impact it could from the attack.
A pointy, shiny object breached out from the Herocs chest, producing four large barbs around its tip that didn’t like to go back out the way they came in. The Heroc wrenched and folded in mid-air, its arms tensing in reaction to the pain. A wild hand of talons swept into Sen and Zulli, sending them both flying from the silver-ranked impact.
August held onto a thin steel cable attached to the harpoon sticking through the Herocs chest. He heaved, digging his feet into the earth. He managed to pull the cable back to the greatsword stabbed into the ground, and wrapped the cable around its hilt. The greatsword budged only slightly as the Heroc tugged on the cable.
Sen couldn’t feel his right arm. He was face down on the forested floor. Pain came from his shoulder, lots of pain. He pulled his face out of the dirt to inspect his arm. It was still there, but he couldn’t feel it. Blackish-brown, oil-tainted blood covered the grass around him, but he was still alive. He pushed himself up with his good arm, getting to his knees to look for Zulli. A weary smile crossed his lips. Zulli was picking herself up as well, seemingly unharmed. He had never felt this much pain before. It had been years since he had felt anything like this; he had forgotten how exhilarating it was. Zulli stumbled over to Sen, falling to her knees to meet him. A flash of light came from her hand as she pointed it at his mangled arm. Sen winced in pain as she cauterized the wounds. He could feel his arm again, at least from his shoulder to his elbow. He couldn’t move it, but he could feel it, and he now wished he couldn’t as the feeling came back, bringing only pain. He pulled a health potion from his voidspace and flicked off the stopper. He sipped half of it and pointed the rest at Zulli. She put her hand on his and pushed the potion back into his chest, then turned to point her wand at the monster wildly scraping the ground and gnashing its teeth, caught in August’s steel, steadfast tether. Sen finished the potion, feeling its effects immediately. He took a glance at his arm. The entire gauntlet was split into a few pieces, suggesting the Herocs talons indeed sever multiple sections of Sen’s arm. The only thing keeping it attached was the oily, rubbery, liquid-latex-like lining of his armor.
Zulli ran back to stand inside her ritual circle. While most of it was in striking distance of the monster, she could stand near the edges in a relatively safe area. The entire area became safer once August climbed on the Heroc’s back, now wielding a double-sided two-handed axe. Sen trudged a little bit closer to the monster, his right arm limp, and wreathing his sword in the blackness of his aura. He grimaced in pain. He couldn’t get close enough to use his Primordial Fire, but he had one more thing he wanted to try out.
- Primordial Transfiguration [Transfiguration – Augmentation -Dimension/Void][Iron 0: 1.2%]
Effect (Iron): Your void special attacks and spells can be transfigured into different forms.
- Void [Base]: Void abilities are pure and unaltered, creating a vacuum of nothingness that pushes and pulls by its own will.
- Cost: None
- Primordial Fire: Your void abilities take the form of chaotic fire, dealing extra [Disruptive Force] damage with a chance to apply [Frostburn]
- [Frostburn] – Afflicted target takes [Cold] damage over time for a short period. This effect can stack.
- Cost: Low Mana in addition to the ability’s base cost
- Entropic: Your void abilities unravel reality, creating a random elemental, magical, or non-magical effect. This effect has a chance to fail. This effect has a chance to hurt the user. This effect can heal the user as well as enemies. This effect can trigger other effects.
- Cost: Varies
Sen swung his sword at the monster, hoping to get lucky with a Legend of Zelda type sword beam. Nothing came from the sword, but August, Zulli, and Sen’s chests released a golden light before quickly dissipating. Sen had no idea what happened, Zulli paid it no mind, and August recognized the feeling as a meager defense boost. Zulli kept her Quasi-Stellar beam focused on the monster’s face, hoping to eventually blind it, and cause whatever damage she can. Sen swung his sword again, and by this time, August had chopped away at one of the Heroc’s shoulders twice, nearly cleaving its arm off with his large axe. Wind bellowed over August as he went for the final cleave. It originated from Sen’s direction, but was barely enough to shake August, let alone the Heroc. Sen swung his sword a third time, and so did August. August swung clean through his quarry, the monster’s arm lifelessly falling to the ground. A spray of orange-red powder left Sen’s sword, covering the monster and the air around it. August’s eyes went wide, and using one of his special abilities, leapt straight up into the air, away from the powder. He conjured another mirror in-between him and the monster. It floated horizontally, acting as a ceiling for the red, fiery explosion created by the fine dust after a short delay. The mirror absorbed the magical explosion, then released another, this one not as weak as Sen’s, reflecting the explosion at August’s power level of high bronze rank. It flattened the Heroc, the explosion resounding throughout the forest.
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Despite the hair and feathers of the Heroc burning off into oblivion, and ultimately being left a charred mess, silver rank resilience was put on full display as the Heroc still lived. It let out pained whines as it ineffectually tried to raise itself to its feet. August put it out of his misery, seeing how close it was to death. He fell back toward the ground with a steel spear in his hand, planting it into the Heroc’s skull when he landed. The Heroc finally went limp as it heaved out one final agonal breath.
“It shouldn’t have gotten that close.” August said, stepping away from the dead monster to check on Sen. He was berating himself more than anyone else. “I was focusing on the treetops with my aura senses. I wasn’t expecting one to be so close to us on the ground.”
“That thing was sneaky for being so big.” Sen replied. He winced in pain as he felt his wounds through the gashes in his armor. The healing potion did well to at least stitch his arm together in some form, and Zulli stopped most of the bleeding, but he dared not doff his armor as he felt it was still the only thing keeping his arm together.
“Don’t drink another healing potion.” Zulli said, walking over, attaching her wand to her belt. “It will just make you sick.”
“I think I can feel that.” Sen replied. “Just thinking about another healing potion is making me sick.”
August’s eyes narrowed at Sen, then lightened when he looked at Zulli. “You both did well.” He said. “You acted predictably, which in this case was a good thing. But we’re heading back to the main trail. I don’t like how reckless you both are. That was a silver rank monster. You would have no chance against it.”
“I think we made things easier for you.” Zulli posited.
August folded his arms at her, but didn’t say anything.
“And I wouldn’t be able to loot it if I didn’t pitch in.” Sen said wearily. Despite the pain he felt, he walked over to touch the Heroc with his good hand.
- Bounty from Nothingness activated.
- You gained:
- 10 Silver spirit coins
- 100 Bronze spirit coins
- 1000 Iron spirit coins
- Monster Core (Silver)
- Gloves of the Tree-Climber (Silver)
“We’re rich!” Sen exclaimed. The immense amount of adrenaline running through his body mixed merrily with the feel-good chemicals of getting good loot after a hard fight. The burnt corpse of the Heroc began to sizzle into a plume of rainbow smoke as it disappeared. Sen immediately hurried over to August and away from the foul stench of the smoke, handing him two small pouches and a pair of gloves. He gave August both the silver and bronze spirit coins, as well as the gloves since Sen wasn’t even close to being the rank to use them. He figured August wouldn’t balk at it, and he was right, as August took the bounty from Sen’s good hand. As August took the loot, his focus was centered on Sen’s limp arm. August had seen mangled armor many times before, and noticed the metal plates were completely severed at a few points. Sen’s arm shouldn’t even be in one piece anymore, but there it was.
“Anything for me?” Zulli asked.
“Just some iron spirit coins for me and you.”
“You got all this? From one monster?” August asked.
Sen knelt on the ground, then awkwardly fell onto his butt with the assistance of one good hand. He hoisted his ravaged right arm onto his lap, wincing in pain, and leant over, barely holding himself up. The raunchy odor of the dissolving monster inevitably filled his nostrils, his adrenaline was wearing off, and a wave of exhaustion now accompanied his pain.
“Eeuuugghhhh….” Sen let out a pained groan as the pain in his arm began to grow exponentially. “Should have seen that coming…” He mumbled to himself.
“Hello!? Everything alright?” A female voice came through the trees.
August’s eyes darted in the direction of the sound. “Make yourself seen!” He shouted, putting the coins and gloves into his knapsack.
“No problem! We’re adventurers!” Two women hopped down from the high branches of the forest. One was wearing a flexible set of leather armor while another was wearing a light set of combat robes. “We heard that blast and thought someone might be in trouble.”
August let his aura seep out of him so the two adventurers could gauge his presence, while the two women did the same in turn. He was able to tell they were both stealth specialists by how they hid certain things in the aura, as if there were gaps in it. August was unable to control his aura in such a way, as is the case for most straightforward brawlers.
“Just cut it off.” Sen mumbled from his seated position, before his head rolled back and he collapsed on the soft forest floor.
Zulli hurriedly tried to catch him but was too slow. She shifted his body into a more dignified and comfortable position. “He’s out.” She told August.
“Your badges?” August asked the visitors.
The two women reached to their belts to produce badges of a bronze color, with two silver stars emblazoned across. August produced his as well, though his badge held one more star. The leather-clad girl’s eyebrows raised at his badge, while the girl in combat robes took on a shocked expression.
“Seems like you did find trouble.” The previously silent woman in leathers told August as she looked down at Sen. “Are you escorting these two?”
“Yes.” August replied in his classic stoic fashion.
“You’re quite a way off the trail.” She said.
August set down his knapsack and started rummaging a large arm through it. The chitin plates implanted into his leather armor receded, disappearing once more. “I’m August Niles. May I have your names?”
“Molly, Daughter of Ellen.” The girl in leathers replied.
“I’m Brina Brecht.” The girl in the combat robes said.
“Molly, Brina. Thank you for your concern. Are you on a contract?” August asked, pulling out two eight-foot poles with a canvas tarp set in between.
“Yes. The Springe Wisps.” Molly replied.
August set the litter next to Sen. “Trickle some mana into this.” August told Zulli, who was still kneeling over Sen, whilst watching the interaction between adventurers.
Zulli touched one of the poles and focused on releasing mana into the object. The litter spread taut and began to float before Zulli pulled away her hand, and it coasted softly back to the ground again. She understood what August wanted and started working on moving Sen’s limp body onto the litter.
“Two two-star stealth specialists for a coverage kill contract?” August asked the two adventurers as he moved closer to them to politely talk in comfortable conversation range.
“It’s a recon contract. There’s a gold ranker coming through Peck Bluffs tonight, and the word is he’ll take out all of them if we can plot the right points.” Molly said.
“Seems superfluous. You would be able to do it in less time. Is it political?” August asked.
“We think it's more for research. They could be honing a new multi-target weapon or ritual. Our contract includes coming back out tomorrow to see how many are left and clearing them out.” Brina said.
August nodded. A one-star adventurer was the usual suspect for an eradication or supply run contract. Two-star adventurers took contracts that contained intricacies that complicated broader situations, or required a lighter approach, such as gathering intelligence or acting as liaisons. Three star adventurers like August were not incredibly rare, as there were very many capable adventures, but they took the most politically sensitive contracts, and therefore were usually intertwined with both political and academic endeavors of the highest order, giving them an inherent gap in superiority even without the authority another star gave.
“What were you fighting?” Brina asked.
“A Heroc.” August said. His chin rose as he expected a negative response.
The two women put on affronted expressions.
“You let a Heroc get that close to these two!?” Brina asked. Her hands quickly rested on her hips as she scolded August.
“These two don’t learn lessons easily. Either way, it wasn’t in the treetops, where I expected them to be. A minute lapse in judgement.” August replied.
“Odd. Also reckless. One swipe could have killed either of them.” Molly chided.
“Yes. They are indeed reckless.” August said, fully aware she was pointing her words at him. “But they survived.”
Zulli had finished moving Sen onto the litter and it floated beside her, carrying Sen.
“Can either of you help him recover?” August asked them, look from Sen’s litter to the two women.
“So that you can put him in more danger?” Brina asked.
“We’re on our way to Silverwind. A trek through the valley was part of the contract. They have business to take care of once they get there. Zulli has already paid the price of underestimating monsters. It was his turn.” August told her.
Brina huffed. She knew that there was more to the contract than August was letting on. Any escort done by a three-star adventurer was always more than just an escort. She waved her hand in front of her face. “No, we’re not healers. Peck Bluffs has what he needs. The trail-” She emphasized, pointing back to the main trail as she leered at August. “-is mostly cleared on the way there. Will you be putting this endangerment in your report with the Adventure Society, or will I have to?”
A light smile alighted on August’s lips in respect for her concern for the two outworlders. “It will be in the report. Thank you for checking on us.” He said when his attention switched to Zulli, who walked to August’s side with Sen in tow.
“That’s a curious ability.” Molly told Zulli, addressing her shadowy, dark form.
August looked at Zulli with stern eyes, which was enough of a cue for Zulli to keep her secrets to herself. “Yep.” She said.
An awkward lull came over them.
“Please be safe then. We’ll get back to our contract and let you get back to yours. The trail is that way.” Brina emphasized once more, pointing in the direction of the trail.
August nodded at the two women. They took a few steps before hopping back into the treetops and out of sight. Their auras then disappeared from August’s senses.
“We should be able to make it to Peck Bluffs before sundown. You seem to have a handle on your mana control.” August told Zulli as he directed a nod at Sen laying on the floating magical litter. Sen’s face seemed stressed despite being unconscious.
“Perks of my ability.” Zulli replied.
They both stepped off to find their way back to the trail.