LoRG 1

Mana was more concerning At 25% and the regeneration while much higher would be negligible in such a short amount of time Instantly Randidly sank into Meditation but didn’t know if it would be very much use

At the same time Randidly realized the dawning sun overhead hadn’t left And as he watched only his Stamina climbed upwards as his health was held constant by the strange image’s effects while his mana drifted downwards one point at a time

I have not been this humiliated in a long time I will grind you to dust Drak said straightening The Aether around him was dimmer but the fact it was still bright enough to be seen was not good It wasn’t something that would run out or even close before Randidly’s body did

Randidly tried flexing his right hand and winced like nails of hot agony twitching back and forth Better but not useful yet Arm still out of commission

Does it really count grinding me like this when you’ve borrowed the strength of another Randidly asked wonderingly trying to buy time as his roots brought his spear back to his left hand and he began to focus his will

Drak just showed his teeth and began to stomp forwards So much for banter

Chapter 282

With his timeline sped up by his opponent’s lack of charm Randidly was forced to burn another 5% of his mana pool smashing Drak with more attacks of Spearing Roots It wasn’t that they weren’t effective he was clearly feeling sore and tender in some spots from the hits It was just that they were called Spearing Roots not Hammering Roots and Randidly left every trade feeling like he had spent too much for too little

But to be fair that feeling might be mutual after all of the annoying things Randidly had pulled Well it was the semi finals and this was the last opponent that Randidly really planned to fight But in his heart he knew he could push Drak just a little further His mouth spread wider in a grin

Everything went into this But Randidly needed a bit more time to do what he had planned to shatter Drak’s confidence and force him to reveal the true trump card of his Style The interference of the Spearing Roots was important but

Randidly’s eyes flitted across the battlefield even as he felt his Health Mana and Stamina tick slowly downward The problem was he just didn’t have time The strength of the image that Drak was conjuring

Pausing Randidly ruminated on that idea or at least he wanted to but he was forced to scramble backwards as Drak finished just bulldozing his way through the spells and arrived in front of Randidly At this point Randidly held no misunderstandings about his own ability to cope with Drak in a frontal attack His spear skills were so far above Randidly’s that it was disgusting

Drak practically acted as though his spear wasn’t there and had left his initial spear broken his arm shattered

Dodging to the side a realization hit Randidly making his heart sink In that moment that attack that had wounded his arm Drak probably could have ended the fight even killed him But he hadn’t He had broken his weapon and main arm then kept coming It had been a ploy to break and hurt him regardless of how the outcome of the fight would have gone

Drak Wyrd hadn’t taken him seriously enough to finish when he had the chance

All that rage and fear that Randidly could have been killed crystallized in his chest forming an icy cold core even while his bones began to burn with increasing intensity and heat Drak lashed out again his spear a flash of light the giant rising sun above them rumbling forcing Randidly to use Phantom Half Step sending himself backwards

Grunting this time Drak thrust his spear becoming a burning light that left Randidly blinded

Randidly’s breathing slowed his senses at their peak The Aether in his body roared swirling wildly growing and building seemingly furious at being cooped up so long within his body

And Randidly felt it too that Drak’s attack just kept extending a thrust targeting the fact that Phantom Half Step could only retreat in a straight line away from the force Randidly’s body trembled as he tested it Gritting his teeth Randidly let his breathing slow further smashing Drak with a directed attack of Anguish

The spear slowed somewhat but did not falter But that was all the extra time that Randidly needed

It had to be perfect timing or

His mana dropped precipitously low Ash to Ash

The spear had already drawn a drop of blood sinking its tip into Randidly’s chest when he activated the skill so his body immediately exploded in a cloud of hot and acrid ash Instantly Randidly reformed behind Drak raising his spear

His right arm twitched painfully raising and gripping the shaft gingerly

With a speed that didn’t seem fair Drak twisted around his spear hitting the spot where Randidly had been at the waist Luckily Randidly was already ascending to the sky utilizing Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth to move rapidly out of the way without the predictability of Phantom Half Step

Less than 10% mana 19% Stamina although that was rising rapidly with Second Wind and only 24% Health Really getting down to the wire

But of course Randidly had a 4th resource one that he still had in a large supply

Aether sung as he channeled it through every corner of his body then through his body and into the spear which began to shake not designed to handle so much Aether at once But as Randidly shot upwards with the skill he raised the spear aiming it higher thrusting it upwards into the sun above the arena

Then he sucked inwards using the natural power of the spear to draw in meaning

The sky above trembled Drak seemed to falter his stance shifting into something more surprised than dangerous

Again as Randidly reached the apex of the jump he drew in everything he could pressing with his will feeding more and more Aether into the spear The spear was humming now the runes on it glowing brighter and brighter the machinations of it furiously activating

In spurts then in larger chunks Randidly began to feel subtle things about the world a hint of the images The feel of a breeze the superheated air the desolation that a world beneath such a sun would experience but then he began to feel the eternal fires of the sun Then the superhot chemical reaction that would fuel that and the dwindling supplies of that supernova the expiration date that would mean the end of this power

Fire explosive and dangerous a draining supreme fire that did not burn but simply incinerated everything

Still Randidly drew the meaning inward as he began to fall towards the ground Now the spear was screaming almost in agony

Then it all clicked He found an image practically fully formed floating in small pieces inside of him

The sun above Drak’s great image shuddered and died leaving the battlefield abruptly free of its influence Randidly crashed to the ground some distance away from Drak and turned to face the man who was totally shocked

Maybe now they would finally have time to

An inarticulate roar erupted from Drak’s lips and he rushed forward towards Randidly who could only sigh No rest for the wicked But now he could do something dangerous to meet this opponent head on With the infinite seeming Aether swirling within him he began to shape the image he wanted Notifications popped up but he ignored them eyeing Drak

Spearing Roots ripped forward again smashing into Drak but Randidly’s opponent ignored them too furious to even stop and block them like he usually did Grinning Randidly continued to split his attention half on the image the other half on his Spearing Roots Instead of attacking Drak’s vital points Randidly aimed elsewhere hoping

And his faith was rewarded when a Spearing Root ripped into Drak’s side sinking into his body staggering him Instantly every Spearing Root rushed forward to the spot ripping the wound wider Randidly had repeatedly hit the same spot using his high Control stat to focus his attacks on the same points And after wave after wave of that he had finally punctured that strangely thick skin of Drak’s

Drak howled and instantly used his spear to decimate the roots But it was not before Randidly had created more Spearing Roots from the tip of the root that had punctured his skin using that small opening doing an insane amount of internal damage

There was no hesitation to it either no fear of killing his opponent Perhaps it was a result of all the time spent preparing for just this with Azriel but Randidly almost felt that if his opponent couldn’t survive this it wouldn’t be an opponent that had hung over him for so long

Drak staggered then advanced even faster barely inconvenienced by Randidly’s blows Which was exactly what Randidly wanted

Congratulations You have created the Second Kata of the Ashen Spear As this was created on a higher Cohort world than your own all benefits have been forfeited Please name the skill

As the Sun Stills

As the Sun Stills ® Lvl 1 has been created

Chapter 283

Randidly felt the images traveling through his body even as Drak continued to advance He hefted his spear and waited his eyes sliding to a half closed state to watch The sun in his image burned brightly but then there was a soft ticking and time began to rush past

Faster and faster the years passed shooting forward millennia gone in the heartbeats that Drak used to move closer At the core of the sun which fueled the chain reaction from which it got its power something changed The product was different cheaper less pure than it had been

The whole sun rippled changing color its fires going from a hot orange to yellow then to a blue green Slowly it died further as time passed and darkness formed slowly at first small pockets within the giant sun With increasing speed those pockets of darkness sunk to the core of the sun beginning to take up more and more of the reactor’ space at the sun’s core This led to a dimmer fire which led to more darkness

All at once Randidly could feel how shallow that flame was as only the surface layer of the sun continued to burn Then all at once that went out leaving this corner of the universe in darkness Everything collapsed inward on itself super condensed to a single point The universe trembled this hyper dense core struggling against something some law of the universe

Drak had arrived and struck The universe tore noiselessly

That hyperdense blackness sunk into itself gradually drawing everything around it into that tear in the universe devouring it

The First Rays of Dawn Drak bellowed his rage clear etched through every line of his face as he struck out Randidly just waited

Again Drak displayed that intimidatingly high level of speed his spear twisting around Randidly’s defense and aiming for his throat Randidly simply smiled Because as Drak’s spear approached aiming to slip past Randidly’s it couldn’t The air around it twisted drawing it closer to Randidly’s defense It swerved mid air aiming for the spear where the image of the tear in the world was concentrated

Randidly held no self delusions It was a powerful image but the suction created probably wasn’t all that great But time and time again Drak had shown that he was canny but a weaker version of Azriel Azriel always reacted well and then made your moves obsolete after she had seen them once

Drak reacted extremely poorly when he was surprised but had the natural stats to defend himself from the worst of it Then he used his understandings to take countermeasures reducing the effectiveness of the blow

But the important part was every time there was an opening created by using a surprising move

Ponderously Randidly moved his spear the weight of the image slowing him to meet Drak’s weapon

Although the suction wasn’t very strong the weight and mass of the strike was All of the image that was once a sun was concentrated in that point after all It was a defensive move that created an hyper dense image on Randidly’s spear that attracted other’s spear to it As time would pass the gravity and density would increase but Randidly wasn’t quite sure to what point

In the wake of the impact Randidly was forced to drop the image as his head was throbbing and he could feel blood running down out of his nose The requisite level of focus was a bit Grimacing he tried to steady himself but continued to stumble backwards the recoil of the blow overwhelming his body

In addition most of the Aether within him had turned sluggish as his body subconsciously stopped its flow probably oversaturated with it

If there was good news it was that Drak had been thrown backwards by the impact forced to face the mass of that hyper dense image directly Instantly he gasped and lurched to his feet but there was something new in his eyes as he looked at Randidly now

Something ugly and vicious and fearful A rat finally cornered

Randidly’s grin was small So finally ready to use your ace Then I

Something was in his chest Randidly doubled over furious at the interference but inside of him an almost disintegrated Aether connection surged to life

She dragged and clutched sucking Aether away At first Randidly struggled but then he just loosed his hold for several reasons First he had Aether to spare Second his body couldn’t handle all the Aether that was inside of him anyway And finally once more he felt the tug of something Some intuitive understanding of fate

It felt final giving away his Aether like this His eyes widened A gift Of course But he would need lucretia to

You You you fucking Drak was finally bantering god bless his heart but his anger was such a heavy thing in his chest that he was inarticulate Still Randidly would take what he could get as Second Wind and Bacterial Regeneration did their wonderful work Instantly he slipped into Meditation and began channeling the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil more consciously

I have never this Drak couldn’t seem to reach a conclusion with his words and just seemed to be spewing his fury Slowly at first but then with greater volume and intensity the audience began to cheer swelling to a deafening roar of approval to see the poster child for the great Styles reduced to this by a spear user off the street

It gave them hope

Shut the fuck up Drak growled the audience finally giving him something to center himself on A wave of oppression spread outwards from Drak sweeping the whole arena Randidly saw Aethon Thai’s face twist into something akin to shock as it hit him staring at Drak

For his part Randidly felt very little from the wave of oppression Or rather perhaps he had just dealt with the effects of the giant sun for so long that this lighter force wasn’t anything worth writing home about But to everyone else first experiencing it

And Randidly had to admit that the scale of it was daunting

Drak turned his burning eyes back to Randidly Fine you win I can understand somewhat why Azriel would use you She wanted to see it yes The skill that gives me so much confidence The skill with which I have never lost It is the first of the Skills of the Breaking Dawn Style and the one I have spent the most time learning Now consider yourself lucky It has been a long time since I was forced to use this

Randidly didn’t feel very lucky or vindicated Because at the moment he was distracted by a scrambling at his insides as Lucretia continued to rummage around Through their connection he could feel her desperation

How

But then something clicked and he had an idea

Drak slowly began to walk forward Dawn’s Warm Glow

Light surrounded Drak suffusing his body Instantly his wounds seemed to bother him less and he moved faster beginning to trot meaningfully towards Randidly

Randidly opened up his Soul Skill allowing Lucretia to reach in This needed to be done perfectly He needed to outmatch her without letting her damage the Soul Skill

Inwardly a deep monster smiled There was a possibility A gamble which would remove some of his versatility but

The thought of it filled Randidly with a wild joy What was battle without struggle

Inspiration Superiority

The skills twined together and he felt something shift Just a little but there was now a confidence inside of him at his core that would never shake Randidly could never fail He needed three things A gift a plan and a seal The gift was easy

Randidly reached into his soul skill and felt the state of things Instantly he implicitly understood the great war that had occurred there and the man who was offering his life for peace Randidly picked him up and filled his body with Aether using that Aether to project him at Lucretia’s location

But to maintain that connection that balance something else was needed Through the connection between them Randidly pulled drawing meaning from Lucretia Thoughts memories feelings techniques images everything

He pulled and pulled Somehow the weight of fate settled behind him drawing Lucretia through the hole into his Soul Skill It was a gradual process but soon

But even as he did that Randidly felt Lucretia’s influence find its bearings curious and scared but not injured from the transfer Slowly it began to explore Randidly’s Soul Skill

Which was undesirable Gritting his teeth Randidly made the spear that was Lucretia’s second gift to Aemont slide into himself going through is body and into his Soul Skill picking up speed Because of their connection Randidly pressed forcing it forward The Soul Skill buckled somewhat at this and Randidly felt a splitting white pain in his body but he continued to press

The Spear descended spearing through the barrier of the Soul Skill sliding shrinking impaling Lucretia’s meaning before it spread too far It shrieked and struggled but the spear sunk into the ground binding that insidious meaning still at least for now

Randidly opened his eyes looking at the glowing figure walking towards him Lucretia would be slowly drawn into him sealed within his Soul Skill by that spear But that did leave him without a weapon

Randidly cracked his knuckles Somehow he didn’t believe it would be a problem

Chapter 284

Drak tried to quell the rising tide of blood that turned his vision red as he walked swiftly toward his opponent

Unpredictable adaptable versatile Drak had been ready for all of these things from his opponent The other man was taller than he was with black hair hanging around his face framing his bright emerald eyes Although he was passable with a spear he was not at the level that Drak had really taken the fight seriously

But this destroying his image in the sky Drak still didn’t understand how the Ghosthound had accomplished this But he did understand how it would look to the crowd Undoubtedly his ancestors were rolling over in their graves embarrassed enough to kill themselves all over again

Drak refused to lose to this untrained fool It was only that mediocre level of spear skill that had led Drak to strike the Ghosthound earlier aiming to maim his right arm rather than taking his opponent out of the fight

Now he had a hot acrid regret in his chest the desire to hurt his opponent rather than simply disabling his arm What was more frustrating was that it appeared the Ghosthound had somehow healed his arm to some degree in the last several minutes of fight which was absolutely ridiculous

Time after time this worm insisted on humiliating him

As Drak strode closer he examined his opponent closely Everything the other man did spoke of a powerful devotion to spells which was concerning There was also something strange about the opponent now A difference in bearing But his spear was inexplicably gone which Drak wanted to be happy about but just made him deeply suspicious

After all the Ghosthound had produced it so quickly earlier in the fight

Drak arrived and lashed out The Ghosthound hopped backwards not using that strange instantaneous skill but moving the old fashioned way Narrowing his eyes Drak struck again upping his speed

Leaning back the Ghosthound managed to move just beyond the range of the spear

Growling Drak advanced then twisted as the Ghosthound appeared to predict his move and rushed forward aiming a punch for Drak’s gut

With a powerful effort of will Drak relaxed his gut and smashed the butt of the spear outwards completely willing to trade blows Although his ancestor’s blood would curdle in their veins what Drak needed was to wound his opponent build momentum in his favor Pleasing the crowd would have to wait

But again the Ghosthound surprised him activating that strange Phantom move and using the force of Drak’s blow to throw himself across the arena but not before moving his hand from a fist to sticking a finger deep into Drak’s wound on his side where those god forsaken roots had pierced him

Growling again Drak rushed towards his opponent the light from his skill growing brighter increasing his speed and strength Time to crush him then

Drak considered activating another skill but until he figured out how the Ghosthound had destroyed the first image he had floating above the arena he would be cautious This skill was his bread and butter It simply increased his speed coordination and strength all the while blinding the opponent with its light but Drak’s high level in other skills combined with it very well making it nigh unstoppable

This time when Drak attacked it wasn’t a move aiming to gauge his opponent it was time to finish it To his chagrin the Ghosthound appeared to have gathered the broken pieces of his earlier spear holding one 1 meter piece in each hand

Drak’s lip curled up at the same time that strange violent mental pain struck But of course he was prepared pressing through it His spear blade disappeared and he could tell by the Ghosthound’s lack of reaction that he couldn’t follow the movement The speed boost and the bright light made it

The Ghosthound mirroring Drak’s own earlier move reached out with a hand and wrapped it around the shaft of the spear catching it

Pupils dilating Drak put all of his strength into throwing his opponent but the Ghosthound had already let go The strength with which he swung had Drak somewhat off balance and the Ghosthound moved closer

Hot bloody crimson fury

Waves of powerful heat exploded outwards as the Breaking Dawn Style once more reasserted itself as the most powerful Style It had ruled this land cleaned it and protected the people here until the other 4 Styles had banded together to oust it out of fear But even then it did not falter Drak refused to lose

The Ghosthound reached out with a hand and Drak made to take a step back but he only ended up putting himself off balance Eyes widening Drak looked at the Ghosthound’s hand where he could see that small sun once again consumed by blackness slowly growing more powerful and then more dense

This fucking

There was only blood in his eyes Drak ripped himself backwards avoiding the stickiness the strange draw of that hand Then he raised his spear and struck

The Ghosthound’s eyes were almost mint rather than emerald as he shifted his hand almost ponderously to intercept the spear attack

Twitching his wrist Drak caused his spear to shift past immediately the Ghosthound moved and Drak almost cursed inwardly How could this asshole somehow predict him

But to Drak’s surprise the Ghosthound stepped into the blow and his stab raked sideways off the man’s ribs It gave Drak a sharp flash of pleasure to see that the Ghosthound’s face twisted in discomfort from the blow finally revealing weakness but that emotion was short lived Because as Drak made to pull back the Ghosthound’s arm came down holding Drak’s spear against his wound driving the point deeper even

Still his other hand moved forward and Drak narrowed his eyes He remembered the strength that skill possessed Leaning back Drak once more felt a flash of pleasure as the Ghosthound missed the hand that held that skill drifting slowly past Even with the strange gravity field around the strike Drak was able to avoid it

Then the blow continued on and Drak’s eyes widened But it was too late

The Ghosthound struck the shaft of his spear shattering it much in the same way Drak had shattered the Ghosthound’s spear The pieces of wood fell to the ground clattering softly

Fury was all that was in his body and Drak could only roar throwing a punch filled with the burning heat of his image of the sun and backed by the power of Dawn’s Warm Glow It was awkward after all these years of fighting with a spear to throw a punch but it felt good

It struck the Ghosthound causing the man to stagger his shoulder caving in under the blow Truly while this skill was in use he was unstoppable no matter the opponent He was a disciple of the Breaking Dawn Style and the death of those who crossed him would be slow

Drak felt it then not just the warmth from his skill but the glory of victory Although he had been pushed far by the opponent people would forget A victory here would mean that when he beat Azriel she would marry him no questions asked Their houses would be joined and

A smile tugged at the corner of Drak’s mouth Their children would be the most powerful the Northern Region had ever seen So much so that they would unite the Region and jockey with Styles from the Central Region in terms of power and influence

Taking the gift from the Eternal Witch was unfortunate but Drak knew just like the Ghosthound in front of him he could overcome the Witch with strength After the tournament after the Inter School competition he could rapidly gain levels reaching a level where he didn’t need to watch his Aether consumption And then

Drak raised his spear and threw a punch An over the shoulder brutal haymaker style punch that contained all of his power Combined with his stats and the bonus from Dawn’s Warm Glow this would probably cave the Ghosthound’s head in rendering him brain dead at best

Which was the best outcome Drak hoped he would never see the visage of this sick loser ever again

The Ghosthound saw the oncoming punch and smiled

The punch hit him or it should have hit him but suddenly the Ghosthound was a blur borrowing the force of the blow twisting spinning and one of the Ghosthound’s legs whipped upwards so fast that even had he had a spear Drak probably would have been taken by surprise

But as he did not have a spear

His hands couldn’t move quickly enough His defense felt full of holes The weariness and strange Aether ate away at his awareness dizziness slowly infecting him Then there was an impact

Drak’s vision went dark

Chapter 285

The crowd jumped to its feet roaring and cheering after the referee had made a count to 10 and then pronounced the Ghosthound the winner of the match

The winner for his part stood still staring solemnly down at his opponent his eyes strange Both arms were at his sides unmoving The right from the muscles being severed earlier in the match and now barely recovered and the left because his collarbone had been crushed by Drak Wyrd’s second to last strike

Aethon Thai’s eyes narrowed It was a deliberate gamble betting that weakness would cause Drak to go for the kill throwing a powerful but slow blow His first strike had been sharp and brutal aiming to incapacitate leaving the Ghosthound weak

Seeing this the Ghosthound might have been able to dodge in the strange almost ideal series of movements he had possessed towards the end but instead he let it hit And after being frustrated time and time again Drak let the strike get to his head His next foolish strike led to it being countered

Plus the Ghosthound couldn’t have countered the other strike The earlier shoulder wound and built up damage from the fight combined with the ripped gash in his side from seconds earlier had him too physically incapable to counter most other blows Any spear blows for that matter

But the Ghosthound acted decisively then moved Although in most other things the Ghosthound was inferior in terms of seizing opportunities he was truly the superior fighter

Then the arena rumbled and Aethon’s eyes narrowed With a single step he crossed the distance to the Ghosthound sweeping the boy up before the projection descended And descend it did a burning bristling sun

You you are still alive Aethon whispered his eyes widening

The arrival only looked to be in his early 40s with short close cropped hair and a charming smile But the flash of teeth from that construct of images made Aethon’s blood run cold Obviously Aethon Who could kill me Now how about you hand over that boy who beat my worthless great grandson Or else

Without your true body here we can stop you You are not welcome here not until

We Aethon The projection of the Crimson Dawn Aegiant Wyrd spread his arms wide looking around Who is we I don’t think there is anyone coming to help you

Aethon was silent as he recognized that was true The Sleeping Moon didn’t appear and the Toppling Mountain Matriarch was out of Deardun on business since three days ago She took most of the elders with her

Business Aethon thought grimly

So Aegiant said still sporting that smile Hand the boy over

Aethon looked down at Randidly Ghosthound who was wincing from the jostling but extremely solemn as he regarded the two fighters Then Aethon turned to look at Aegiant

A projection was an amalgamation of skills The main body would lose access to those skills while they were gone but the projection would contain a portion of them based on how solid the image of the skills was Creating a projection was the demarcation line between Adepts and Pontiffs A skill so powerful it could exist independently of the body With Aegiant’s history too he might even be at the Master level which wouldn’t matter as long as his main body wasn’t here

And based on how old Aegiant must have been Aethon knew that this would be very close to his actual skill But still the body’s stats should be low

Feeling abruptly very tired Aethon sighed He had long seen how politics were breaking down in Deardun and had done nothing because he was confident that the Steel Feather Style would be one of the main powers even with the return of the Breaking Dawn Now he wasn’t so sure Ciel would definitely grow strong after her loss but Drak Wyrd and Azriel Blanche would likely grow faster

If those two were bound together Well probably no chance of that now But if Aegiant was in Deardun with Drak to succeed him

The Breaking Dawn Style could crush the Steel Feather Style It would probably have happened too if not for this boy

Aethon held the Ghosthound’s gaze for several long seconds Then he sighed turning to face Aegiant

And then Aethon fled as fast as his legs could carry himself and the boy

Lucretia watched half filled with fear half filled with dread half fascinated as the strange being summoned from the Ghosthound’s Soul Skill fought Gerroark Char to a standstill Part of it was his weapons which were unbelievably powerful but the other part was ingenuity and a deceptively strong body

More and more meaning was syphoned out of Lucretia so much so that she was forced to start sacrificing parts of herself Emotions swirled and one at a time she gave them away Hatred for Gerroark Impatience for this to end Her deathly fear of how this would end

The blows between the two fighters destroyed buildings but their inn simply trembled protected by the strange rock man

In the bed Shal stirred and immediately Lucretia focused She currently had three emotions remaining in her body and one of them surged becoming unstoppable completely all consuming Struggling to her feet Lucretia hobbled over to his bedside

As her other emotions ran dry and Lucretia wanted to save her personality to speak with Shal she fed her curiosity about the Ghosthound into the rift It was a wide and powerful emotion as this boy continued to mystify her and would do nothing for her Right now maintaining other things was more important

Shal opened his eyes blinked and then sat up Then he shook his head and his eyes focused taking in the room Again the inn shook

Their eyes met and Lucretia smiled She could hear Gerroark’s roar of fury outside and a deep rumbling from the rock man which might be a chuckle In the small room neither spoke for several long seconds

Then Shal said that’s why Why it was so strange Why they wanted me to lose the honor of the Spear Phantom Style so my skin couldn’t be dyed this color

Smiling Lucretia reached and drew back her sleeve revealing her arm Her skin was thin and translucent and through it several thick blue veins could be seen carrying her blood

But Shal was still talking Even as Pronto was being consumed by that cursed spear addicted to the rush of Devouring feeding away his personality I was sent away too Aemont couldn’t bare to see either of us for the longest time If he could he would have stayed but we both reminded him of his failures Pronto of Aemont’s lack of strength And I

Shal fell silent for a few breaths and then said But I can still feel he loved me

Her curiosity ran out and Lucretia had a choice of which emotions to feed now After a brief hesitation and she followed her instinct and fed to it the emotion that had driven her so long fear of death The emotion that made her the Eternal Witch running away from her doom

Lucretia had seen her parents slaughtered by the Calamity and hated it Hated how fragile they were how easily killed How the world would end something so finally So she fought and struggled and scratched and tore to find a way to live To find methods to shatter the System and avoid death

Now the Ghosthound was a lead but

Lucretia chose to feed that fear of death to the hungry syphon maintaining the rock man ignoring the fact it was the basis on which she had lived for so long She just looked at Shal with bright eyes waiting

He opened his mouth and asked So you are from the other world The world opposite us on the front lines

Lucretia nodded and spoke drawing his attention back somehow savoring this bittersweet truth Aemont avoided you because you reminded him of something that defied his very reason for living for working so hard You were a symbol that trivialized it

Again the inn shook more powerfully this time as the struggle outside appeared to be reaching its later stages Still Lucretia did nothing to prevent herself from being sucked away consumed

Shal closed his eyes sighing Because the third and final gift that Lucretia gave to Aemont was a son

Lucretia’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she nodded No longer did the being consumed bother her because that emotion of fear was gone Now she began to feed the largest the final the most confusing emotion she had in her heart into the rift a mother’s love for her son

So I’m a half

But Lucretia’s eyes hardened because while fear had driven her to do some terrible things a mother’s love took even fewer prisoners and was much more active in seeing what she wanted

Now that she was sure he was aware she wanted to spend more time with him slowly growing closer to knowing him In addition her induced coma had finally rid Shal of the mark left by Aemont holding his strength and memories Whether it was destroyed or consumed Lucretia didn’t care because now Shal was solely hers

But that was for later For now

Holding onto the soul of Dian and the head of the Yeti Lucretia threw herself into the Soul Skill before it could consume her She needed resources because she couldn’t avoid its pull now But she could put herself in a position with power

Because only then would she be able to break out

Chapter 286

You fuck cunt Get out of my way Helen bellowed fighting against the huge press of bodies After Aethon left with the Ghosthound in tow and that projection followed destroying a 10 meter section of the stands in the process the crowd around her rioted running to get out of the arena

Which was dumb Helen thought because that was the direction that the fighting was going

The referees really had no idea what was going on and were trying their best to control the worst of the riots to protect people but without using force there wasn’t much they could do The people could only riot

A man’s elbow smashed into Helen’s side and her eyes narrowed Flicking out a hand she smashed him to the side the difference in their stats clear She was done playing nice

Striding forward shoving the larger men out of the way while trying to avoid hurting any children or women Helen quickly made progress Very quickly she had gotten far enough through the crowd to be away from the arena and have space to hop up and pull herself on the roofs of the nearby buildings

The people who had kept close behind Helen using her to get out of the arena as fast as possible were disappointed but Helen just glared at them before turning her attention elsewhere Her mother and Ikaas were probably with that oaf that was trying to seduce Ikaas so they would probably be safe Meanwhile

Again a shockwave of force looked like it leveled a small building as Aethon continued to retreat the Ghosthound in tow Fucking Fucking fuck

She began to sprint along the roof rushing after them She wouldn’t really be of any use or be able to slow the projection of a Pontiff but She couldn’t just sit here and do nothing Especially because

What if that man killed Randidly

The thought hit her so hard that Helen stumbled mid step hit the lip of a roof and tumbled into the alley As the split second of chilling emptiness struck her there was nothing that she could manage She was just adrift But as she fell her instincts kicked it and she twisted around landing on her feet

Two children who were taking shelter in the alley jumped to their feet The three of them eyed each other Helen’s eyes softened and then she moved at full speed blurring past them

They had been drinking out of Claptrap’s Ghosthound Tassle mugs the bright emerald clear even in the dim alley

The streets here were clearer so Helen was able to move very quickly So quickly that she caught up

Fool You took that blow rather let me destroy a building You could have saved the boy but you also tried to save everyone else The projection mused stepping closer Aethon lay slumped in a crater in front of a building where a dozen or so people peered out through the windows their faces white Randidly lay between Aethon and the building kneeling and looking around

Helen was behind the projection so she immediately began to circle around

Not all honor has left Deardun Aethon said hoarsely getting to his feet slowly a wound on his side There is still strength here We do not need you Aegiant

Up for debate But not with you Your successor will undoubtedly be more amenable

The two began to fight their spears not even moving to Helen’s eyes but huge gashes appearing in the ground around them Unfortunately most of those were near to Aethon and they were moving quickly closer to his body

Aethon’s face was sagging his breathing haggard Aegiant was smiling lightly

Randidly stood throwing a normal stone

But then his eyes narrowed and he pointed and she felt something flow out of him that strange and pure Aether he controlled and gave her filling the stone concentrating in its center An image a sharp powerful one that he used against Drak A sun slowly consumed turning from a bright light into a hyperdense pinprick of darkness that grew more and more dense

Randidly was sweating his legs trembling and Helen scrambled over the nearby roofs to position herself near him dropping to the ground

Randidly’s voice was hoarse Dodge Aethon

To Helen’s surprise Aethon listened and dodged left His arm was severed in a spray of blood obscuring Helen’s view of the battle But she could hear Aegiant’s laughter Why would you let the boy distract urk

A huge collision every bit as powerful as the strikes between Aethon and Aegiant Then a bellow of anger BOY YOU WILL

Randidly blinked then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head After swaying for a moment he began to fall backwards

A Shrike Cries over a Barren Land

A wave of force hit Helen sending her sprawling missing Randidly by several meters

When Feathers Flash a Shrike Hunts

This time there was no wave of force but Helen was still groggy from the first and managed to calm her swimming vision What she saw when she looked up made her pale

Randidly and Aethon were gone even while Aethon’s arm remained on the street And it seemed that Aethon could direct his skill somewhat for while Helen had simply been knocked to the ground concussed the area where Aegiant had been standing was just rubble for 100 meters That area had been warehouses and part of the wall but they were still strong buildings

Howling Aegiant climbed out of the rubble I’m going to kill everyone in this entire shit town You hear me

Aethon looked down at the boy frowning It was doubly difficult now with only one arm to carry the boy but he was managing To be sure it was a great distraction and well worth the cost of his arm which could be regrown by paying a Village Spirit enough contribution points from the front lines but

That was foolish Aethon said simply

The boy’s body was limp and although he was clearly trying to communicate he couldn’t get his mouth to work At the very least his continued consciousness was a good sign although

Your skill is strong almost too strong And you used it to the point that your mind couldn’t handle it Which was necessary otherwise it wouldn’t have even slowed him But the first impact surprised him but the second impact he used to break the image Your overstrained mind had something shatter inside of it That’s why not even I dared use images against him his will is that strong

The boy waved a hand feebly Aethon snorted

Well just lay there Now that we have some space I can get you out of the city and

To Aethon’s surprise the boy stretched his hand and touched him lightly on the shoulder Aether pure and clean the most robust and responsive he had ever felt began to flow into him Just a little just a handful but

Then the boy slumped seemingly finished with his task

Which left Aethon very torn This Aether lent credence to the thought that the boy was a Devourer just as the rumors about his Style had hinted Was it part of their techniques

But Drak Wyrd had even more obviously been using Aether that wasn’t his The reason for that boys dominance was the years he spent pushing his skills upwards while avoiding gaining any levels To use all of the skills and images he had he should have triggered a pretty bad case of Aether Starvation in himself And yet

Plus this Aether was not at all what Aethon would have thought Aether from a Devourer would be like It was so perfect Like he had been drinking bottled water his whole life and only now had he found a pure fresh stream

More than anything though was that the boy had been grievously injured in his gambit to buy them time Aethon would have assumed the boy would be dead weight in such a situation like his daughter or even Drak Wyrd would be But that was the strength of the Ghosthound Adaptability tenacity

Direct injuries to images and the mind were notoriously difficult to recover from Some never did But if those images were recreated coming back together it was a refining process The reforged version would be even stronger

And somehow Aethon didn’t think that Randidly was the type to never heal It filled him with a strange pride It filled him with an even more concrete dread To give the boy time he needed to send him back home And he needed Divveltian to tell him where to send him

Switching directions Aethon rushed forward

Chapter 287

Shal was left momentarily dumbstruck as Lucretia the Eternal Witch the one his memories confirmed was his true birth mother disappeared abruptly Her blood flowed in his veins and she was from the opposing forces beyond the frontlines which made him

A string of curses refocused Shal’s attention to the hole in the wall Getting to his feet he was surprised at how good his body felt Fit and refined And his mind was clear and sharp for the first time in a long time Aemont’s shade before he had dissipated had explained that it was because he was taking up residence there and Lucretia was trying to keep tabs on him Both of their influences had muddied his inner world making the flow of his Aether turbulent

Now that those two mental weights dispersed

Shal flexed his hands as he walked to the hole in the wall What he found made him gasp

A strange golem like figure stood over Gerroark Char Patriarch of the Endless Heat Style holding a hammer and a scepter grinning down at his opponent

This has been a joyous dance but it appears that my role here is done May your body remain whole for as long as your people sing your praises The golem’s words were strangely accented in a way that Shal couldn’t place Its body slowly began to dissipate

Gerroark sighed standing I agree It was a good reminder to not neglect training I suppose I’ve been pre occupied since I became a Master Having that advantage It has become a crutch

Chuckling in a strange rumbly way the golem shrugged It is as the Progenitor wills We all have our fates

Then the golem was gone the lights dispersing completely leaving to settle his own fate Still the situation was unbelievable Gerroark a Master currently was heavily injured portions of his armor shattered Blood was on his lips

To the side Divveltian stood over a bound Claptrap There were several unmoving bodies on the street around them In addition two strange figures seemed confused and lossed standing off to the side Shal hopped down off the second floor to the street level bringing all eyes to him Gerroark seemed to sigh

perhaps I have been foolish these past decades the glory of my family is worth nothing if my personal strength has fallen Gerroark mumbled but then his eyes sharpened as he looked at Shal But I must know

I am not the son of your granddaughter no Shal said the words coming out surprisingly easily It left him wondering who his family was who he felt connected to He felt oddly adrift The person he was closest to was Pronto and Shal had been forced to

He shut his eyes willing the memories away He would deal with that later

Gerroark nodded seemingly relieved That is for the best It means that I will attack you but if you have the strength to survive I will not pursue the issue

Shal’s eyes snapped open Fighting a Master He felt dread fill his body as well as a wild recklessness That recklessness was what he held onto slowly letting it grow and fill him It was a trait he learned from Pronto Whatever else his flaws he had been an excellent brother More of a father than Aemont had ever been

Masters were those people who were so close to the Spearman’s ideals that they held sway over the Aether of the world Which made them the ones with the ability to create lasting Skill Sets and even Soul Skills by the most talented

But in battle they were oppressive for another reason Their grip on the world’s Aether was so strong that they could deny it to you Slowly at first and the effect was weaker the more powerful the target was but soon you would find your images unraveling your body growing weak your will fraying

Your skills useless

Apparently it was dependent on the world which is why that strange golem which got its Aether elsewhere was rather unphased But with the golem gone

Divveltian stepped up but Shal shook his head Getting him involved wouldn’t

With a thump Aethon Thai appeared in the fighting zone holding a limp Randidly Suddenly something in Shal’s chest clicked This was his connection his family

His disciple Someone that even in the wild storm of emotions in Shal’s chest he had a responsibility towards

If not for him Shal’s fickle nature Randidly wouldn’t have been brought here For two years he had forced the boy to train in that prison environment and there was a sickness in Shal’s stomach as he saw Aemont’s style of parenting in his own actions

While Shal had been dealing with his own issues the boy had continued to fight apparently to the point that he was

We don’t have time for this Aethon growled throwing the boy and a scroll into Divveltian’s arms This fool has made too many enemies That scroll can teleport you 100 kilometers You know better than I where to take him where it will be safe Go

Divveltian hesitated just a second then he snapped the scroll and disappeared carrying the body Shal impulsively reached out opened his mouth but

What could he do What could he say Randidly didn’t even seem to be conscious

Another thump A glaring projection appeared near them a man that Shal didn’t recognize But Aethon and Gerroark both knew who he was based on their reactions

Where the FUCK is that boy The projection growled

No one answered It was a strange standoff the four of them with Claptrap bound over to the side watching with wide eyes The two other watchers moved closer to assist Claptrap with his bonds

Finally Gerroark gestured and Shal could feel the world respond to his will The projection screeched in fury throwing itself at Gerroark but already it was dissipating the edges of it ripping away By the time it reached Gerroark it was a puff of energy and then nothing

Gerroark gave Aethon a look Now There is no need for you to remain There is personal business Shal must prove he is too difficult to kill or

To everyone’s surprise even his own based on Aethon’s expression Aethon shook his head No I owe the Ghosthound boy a favor I suppose it’s fair that his master cash in on that He will not fight alone this day

The sky above them darkened and Shal felt his Aether grow more distant more difficult to utilize

Fine Gerroark growled his eyes bright Then let’s begin

Randidly was barely conscious Whatever that fucker had done had left him mostly blinded and unable to focus Thinking at all was too painful Using Skills moving facial expressions talking

The jostling didn’t help but strangely it abruptly stopped The blurs and colors slowly stopped spinning and Randidly focused as hard as he could narrowing his attention

He was in on a platform Divvet stood outside of it next to a bored looking man in a uniform who pressed

Energy stange constructs of Aether in the air around him They caught his attention and Randidly focused and immediately regretted it groaning His headache felt like someone was sharpening a rusty ax on his cerebellum

But then

Randidly thought it was a smile at first on Divveltian’s face which was shocking enough But then he realized it was too low and too red It was on Divvet’s neck and weeping downwards in long streaks

Divvet fell forward and the bored looking man was suddenly an alarmed looking man spinning around his eyes wide but then he fell too and there was now just a new man standing there holding two objects one in each arm

The energy began to swirl and flare brighter around Randidly blocking off his vision but he could recognize the man even through the swirl of energy The man seemed annoyed and his name

Marco Polo

The energy went bright and Randidly lost consciousness

Helen her chest heaving arrived at the inn Or the site where the inn used to stand

It had been leveled totally and completely There was no sign of Aethon or Randidly Just a hole in the ground where the building had been She wondered idly how Deardun would heal after it had been scarred so completely like this How the great Styles would defend their actions doing nothing aside from Aethon’s interference

How the people would remember this Regional Tournament

There was only some dead bodies and Claptrap standing over one crying Emptiness and fear swirled in her She had been too late Everyone All of them had moved on leaving her here alone She had no idea where the assurance came from but she felt deeply truly that they had left It was an unavoidable fact And she

The body on the ground at Claptrap’s feet was Roger’s

Helen was shocked how easily that name came to her when looking at him He had been decapitated but he was also covered in wounds which wasn’t that strange for him His face though

Locked forever into that dumb look of determination And now that she saw it so clearly so frozen in time Helen recognized where it had come from That was Randidly’s expression the tight lips the narrowed eyes the firm belief that he would succeed

Helen had always thought that Roger was the furthest from Randidly’s potential of them all barely taking it seriously but He was here on the ground the proof forever shaping how she would remember Roger

Maybe he had been the one who looked up to him the most Needed him the most Wanted to be him the most That day when they had all met Roger’s pride had been crushed The arrogance that he had based on his pedigree was lost to him so he had to find something new A new source of strength

The brutal dedication and refusal to give in he had learned from Randidly would have undoubtedly been something he could rely on for his entire life They really seemed so similar in that moment their faces overlapping

But where Randidly’s eyes would glow emerald with that expression Roger’s eyes were dead and empty

I killed him you know Claptrap spoke up Because I hate you all I hate how weak you made me feel

Helen just turned and walked away

Does it piss you off Claptrap taunted tears streaming down his face Are you just afraid I could kill you right

Claptrap Helen said softly turning and looking over her shoulder You’re trembling

Then she turned and left The emotions she felt were ugly and vicious yes but there was something colder and more lonely numbing it all She didn’t have the will to deal with Claptrap and his issues

In the wake of Randidly’s abrupt departure they all had their own demons

Chapter 288

Simon Bliss had seen a lot of things that surprised him in his life As the 14 year old son of two mothers as the guy who had tried every drug under the sun and had convinced a lot of people to try the more reasonable half of them he was no stranger to weird phenomenon Even hallucinations could be considered run of the mill before Simon’s eyes

Still he was given pause by the strange message that filled the air in front of him making him look up and away from his Playstation He wrinkled his nose annoyed

This was extremely dumb Was it some sort of prank

Mom Other mom Simon yelled not caring that Denise would wince when she heard his voice Of course that was only if she heard it But they were both out at that stupid charity dinner that Simon had refused to go to and

Everything around Simon shifted The television and the lamps went dark But still a message appeared in the air in front of Simon

Welcome to New Earth Your world has bene entered into the Nexus and as such is now running on a new system designed to give you the tools and challenges to survive and live a fulfilling life Good Luck

Simon Bliss

Health(/R per hour) 17/17 (13 5)

Mana(/R per hour) 19/19 (9)

Stam(/R per min) 13/13 (8)

Vitality 3

Endurance 1

Agility 4

Reaction 3

Resistance 1

Willpower 1

Focus 1

Congratulations As the System has determined you have a very slim shot of surviving the next 30 seconds you have been given a random Uncommon rarity Path The Bubble Path is open to you

Simon eyes scanned through the Status screen with a discerning eye Could this really be the sort of situation from the stories he read where the world ended and aliens took over and everyone got stats

If so his build was leaning towards some sort of mage build Although it did annoy Simon somewhat that his stats distribution set his Resistance Willpower and Focus at 1 which seemed to be useful for the mage class but it did fit his character Even if it rankled

Someone screamed outside his door Right outside his door which was a little bit surprising as they lived on the 2nd highest floor of a pretty nice apartment building Immediately as the scream continued Simon’s heart began to pound

But this was a game so other more nontraditional instincts kicked in Simon scrambled to the kitchen and grabbed a long sharp knife and ran up to the front door bursting out without a thought

What he saw made him stop for a second as he struggled to process what he was seeing Part of the building had been sheared off So instead of the hallway that should extend a good 50 feet to his right there was just nothing but night sky and the ground below A woman was at the edge of the location of the shear apparently looking down when what appeared to be a green slime fell on her shoulder

Now it was slowly spreading to engulf her face even while she waved her arms frantically her eyes white with panic Around 6 more slimes dropped down onto her covering her body Clinically Simon noted the red cores in their body and his other instincts told him that these were the weak points of these monsters

Almost numb he looked left At least a dozen more slimes were rolling forward towards the source of the commotion Simon had a powerful urge to just leave the woman out here on her own but then he saw that a few slimes leave the pack and ooze under doors working their way into the apartments

More and more slimes were dropping down mobbing the woman Her lower body was stuck in what looked almost comically like a glob of jello around a meter of the green slime around her body

The screaming was abruptly cut off as they covered her mouth and now she flailed wildly barely able to move Her eyes locked onto Simon’s pleading with him for something But Simon’s mind was elsewhere

He needed to get away but

They were on the 9th floor and the two stairs were either behind the oncoming rush of slimes or in the part of the building that had been sheared off with the elevators

Would the police come Simon wondered idly Then a thought struck him The message had said he was very unlikely to survive the next 30 seconds Did that mean

The woman’s struggles were growing more feeble her eyelids fluttering as they simply drowned her The slimes coming down the hall were almost at Simon’s door If he was going to survive he needed something crazy Something crazy enough to get him off the 9th floor and

Simon gave the slimes a long look They seemed slightly resilient

Simon did his best impression of a linebacker spear tackling the woman thick in the midst of slimes and both fell off the edge tumbling down His overweight frame was enough momentum apparently to make up for the rather poor attempt The contact seemed to wake the woman up and she began to scramble frantically at Simon’s arms her fingers weak

His annoyance was simmering to a boil when they hit the ground

Simon blinked and sat up confused as to why he felt so slimy and his movements felt difficult He opened his mouth and it was flooded with liquid The world around him was green

It snapped back into place The slimes But he couldn’t breath and everything hurt his calf throbbing painfully

His calf was now the sheath of his kitchen knife he blearily noticed his horror mounting Why the fuck had he jumped with it in his hand He flailed briefly before he stopped himself That would do nothing That’s exactly how the woman had died He needed to to do

Something soft knocked against his temple His eyes narrowed The cores

Desperately he reached up and grabbed it surprised to find it soft and spongy He flexed his hand for a few seconds and then something gave and it collapsed Immediately the slime in the area around his head dissipated seemingly losing all substance and fading from existence

After several gasping breaths Simon was able to recover somewhat They seemed to have crashed onto the 3rd floor as the shearing wasn’t as straight as Simon had originally thought Which was rather good

Almost as if it was waiting for him to notice he felt the weight of the slimes around him and the woman’s body who he was still entangled with dragging them left and off the edge as the floor partially gave way

As he was pulled forward the knife in his calf was tugged free of the wooden floorboard but not before it sent a stream of agony up his leg turning his vision white Then for the second time of the night Simon fell

Chapter 289

This fall was much shorter but paradoxically much more painful as it didn’t seem like the fall was enough to knock him unconscious for the worst of it Instead he was forced to deal with every jolt of vicious pain from the knife stuck in his calf

More concerning the slimes appeared slightly stunned and otherwise unaffected and began climbing over each other to cover his face

The next few minutes were a series of desperate struggles grasping at the cores and squishing them which became increasingly easier It was around the time that most of the slimes were gone that Simon was finally able to give attention to the series of small blue screens that had popped up

Congratulations You have learned the Skill Bash Resistance Lvl 1

Congratulations Bash Resistance has increased to Lvl 2 You have gained 1 PP A PP is gained every time you gain a level in a skill Look in your path screen to use PP

Bash Resistance has increased to Lvl 3

Bash Resistance has increased to Lvl 4

Congratulations You have learned the skill Stab Resistance Lvl 1

Congratulations you have learned the skill Blood Clotting Lvl 1

Based on your skills you have gained access to the Hearty Constitution Path

Blood Clotting has increased to Lvl 2

Congratulations you have learned the skill Crushing Grip Lvl 1

Crushing Grip has increased to Lvl 2

Bash Resistance has increased to Lvl 5

Crushing Grip has increased to Lvl 3

Crushing Grip has increased to Lvl 4

Crushing Grip has increased to Lvl 5

With a thought Simon dismissed his notifications finding himself in a pool of dissipating slime and sweat with

A woman’s dead body Still and dead killed by the slimes or by him pushing

Simon stumbled to his feet his heart pounding his lungs opening and closing at a rapid pace So fast that he started to feel faint He struggled to his feet then stumbled forward Where the building ended a street began and Simon walked out onto the street and vomited

Then Simon was forced to spin around as there was suddenly a strange grumbling noise What he found was a miniature version of a hippo perhaps the size of a large dog with strange red skin It eyed him for a second then opened its mouth revealing a circular maw lined with jagged and broken teeth more like a shark than anything else rumbling again

Simon once more vomited this time hitting the strange creature It’s eyes flared wide and it bellowed rushing forward mouth open Now there were screams everywhere and those instincts of Simon’s that had somehow urged him to move slowly died

All of the apartments were dim cut off power He imagined being alone in the dark when those slimes swarmed unable to see the cores unable to think from panic

Simon felt something click and his hands fell to his sides as the creature made to devour him He pissed himself for all the good it did him But he just couldn’t If the world was like this it would probably just be easier to

And who was he kidding a guy like him would never survive

Simon was shoved out of the way as the woman he had pushed off the building scrambled forward interposing herself between Simon and the monster Their eyes met once more hers hard and determined his scared

The monster bit down ripping almost her entire forearm off before throwing its head back and forth tugging her around like a ragdoll Screaming she collapsed

Why Simon began to ask but the words wouldn’t come beyond the first just the swell of nausea in his chest as he watched the creature maul her His calf twinged painfully and belated Simon reached down to remove the knife

He immediately felt numb as blood began to spurt out quickly pumping onto the nearby street As he straightened he froze because he saw a child no older than 8 backing away from three of the strange red hippos as they advanced towards him Forebodingly the woman’s scream fell to a whimper and then she went silent

The child spotted Simon and flailed towards him tripping over his own feet and falling Help Help The child screamed

Simon limping as best he could his pants damp with his piss turned and fled heading away from the apartment building towards a field that had apparently been transplanted nearby Luckily for Simon’s guilt as he hurried away the child’s screams were very quickly eclipsed by the revving sound of an engine and Simon saw out of the corner of his eyes a hummer hurtle down the road

A series of wet thumps followed by the silence slowed his hasty retreat so Simon surreptitiously turned around His eyes were empty and hollow as he gazed for only a second at the scene Then he turned around again continuing into the field There was nothing remaining on the road but red piles of gore that he didn’t dare look too closely at

For what felt like an hour Simon rushed away but his breathing was growing heavier and heavier his limp more pronounced Feeling dumb and embarrassed and torn in 1000 different directions Simon stopped taking off his hoodie wrapping it as best he could around the wound Was it too late to do something about blood loss His Blood Clotting Skill had increased to 7 while he had been running but

Then not sure what he hoped to find Simon continued to run After all if he didn’t find something this way

He had left that boy for no reason

Not that it mattered that hummer asshole had

Simon stopped leaning up against a tree sweating dry heaving But there was nothing in his stomach anymore to throw up It took a few minutes but it seemed that his body slowly calmed down allowing him to continue the dull aches in his joints becoming more and more prominent But he still stumbled forward

Finally there was a soft dinging and Simon forced his bleary eyes to focus

Congratulations You have discovered an exceedingly rare world variance The power of Aether concentrates here forming The Golden Lily Spring As the first person from your world to find a world variance you have gained the Blessed Child Path

Blessed Simon said his voice hollow Then he stumbled forward listless The field had turned into a lightly wooded area and sure enough as he pushed through a particularly thick clump of trees he found a small dip where there was a pool filled with golden lilies

The change in elevation proved too much for Simon’s weary legs and he tumbled down landing at the bottom of the small hill rolling until his arm splashed into the water Weary Simon Bliss felt the edges of his consciousness fade away and he slowly fell into fitful rest

After waking up Simon slowly reoriented himself To distract himself he opened up his path menu and threw himself into familiarizing himself with this new System trying his best to forget the sound of the child’s screams

Even though nothing he would have done could have changed it the image wouldn’t leave his mind Nor the image of the red sludge on the ground afterwards

Over the next week Simon continued to learn and grind skills slowly growing stronger Occasionally he ventured away from his spring mostly to fight small groups of slimes that he found However he never dared approach the hippo creatures which still filled him with fear

After finishing the Bubble Path he learned the offensive skill Bubble which threw bubbles of compressed air at opponents This made it simple to blow away the slime revealing the core After finishing the Blessed Child Path Simon earned the Soul Skill Chosen of the Golden Lily Spring Higher and higher he trained until

Until the day a pillar of light appeared in the sky telling him he could go to that location and receive a Class But still Simon hesitated He had made himself a nice little hut in the past week gathered different foods from nearby houses surviving on water from the spring There were even strange berry bushes growing up now If he left this place

So Simon stayed Even when around two or three weeks later another pillar of light appeared in the same direction Still time was relative Where he once just had Mana Bolt and Bubble Simon furiously grinded his skills improving to Water Jet Mana Shield and Healing Palm In Simon’s mind the image of that boy wouldn’t desert him so he resolved himself to become a support healing type of mage

Almost as if the world had heard his wishes Simon received The Water Mender Path and was able to learn the skill Mending Stream Now Simon Bliss had made contact with some of the survivors in the neighboring areas as he explored but he was terribly afraid of them Both because of how he had seen those on the road die and also

Someone had been driving that car Someone had saw the child and pressed on the gas Hard

Still Simon wasn’t a fool Mutely he would meet with them trading supplies for his healing water It wasn’t as fast acting as the healing potions that cropped up but it lasted longer and healed more overall Better in a long drawn out fight to have a bottle of Simon’s Healing Stream

Simon also began to learn some basic Herbalism and First Aid mostly guided by System hints swiftly becoming a source of medicine to the surrounding regions It was almost surprising how many people showed up at his little spring once they heard about the aid he could bring Because most of the injuries that people dealt with were not Health related but rather poison paralysis or missing limbs Those didn’t heal very quickly even with the new System if at all

But Simon’s water did

As the people around him grew more organized and strong so too did Simon grow more skilled in his healing ways He also had improved his offensive spells to the point that he no longer feared those red hippopotamuses Weeks turned to months and Simon found himself barely able to remember that boy who screamed on the road

But Simon never forgot that he turned away from someone in need

On a rainy day filled with a strange conviction Simon went alone into their den and massacred them It took him four long days of grinding away but he finally killed the last of them and received a golden coin Nonplussed he gave it to a leader of the nearby area an athletic 20 something with close cropped hair and piercing eyes

Soon another golden pillar came down this one much much closer and Simon understood that that man had used it to found a village Almost as if that had been a signal soon three more pillars came down in quick succession in the surrounding area They were all very close together and Simon had another difficult decision to face he was very interested in obtaining a Class but which of the Villages should he use to do it

The obvious choice was from the man who he gave the coin to who Simon thought would treat him well but leaving his spring

There was another Village located quite close to his spring after all

But a new notification kept Simon preoccupied and worried

Warning A Tier III Raid Boss has spawned within your Zone All other Villages in the Zone have lost the ability to connect to other worlds Once this Raid Boss has been slain there is an exceedingly rare chance that other Tier III Raid Bosses will spawn in the entirety of the Zone In addition upon the death of the Raid Boss your Zone will move onto the next portion of the System acclamation Be prepared

which seemed extremely ominous didn’t it

Chapter 290

It was a time of three long weeks filled with dread Simon put off his travels for a Class instead waiting within the sphere of influence of his spring just hoping that nothing would change around him The monsters around him grew abruptly weaker too and then abruptly stronger as dungeons came into being around the 4 towns

Then one of the towns fell to its Tribulation and became another dungeon they had to worry about

From Simon’s position there was a village directly West that was the village founded from the golden coin Simon earned Then there was another village to his North and a bit West which was the closest one to him Then directly north of Simon and North of the other village was the new fallen Newbie Village which became a dungeon The final Newbie Village was more East of Simon than anything else the farthest away But all three surviving villages worked together to address the new problems

Simon found himself very quickly outclassed by the level of monsters in the surrounding areas as he didn’t have a Class to improve So he isolated himself further It seemed the golden lilies kept monsters away so Simon stayed put hoarding more and more of his Mending Liquid learning Refine and turning it into something much more potent

After three weeks there was another notification

The Tier III Raid Boss has been slain by Lucifer In the wake of its passage the Boss has passed onto Lucifer an Ancient Rarity piece of equipment

Your Zone has opened up to the worlds above Two Champions descend into your Zone These Champions are randomly determined Fulfilling quests and services for the Champions grants increased experience accumulation and skill growth These Champions stand opposed to one another Your Zone will not progress until one Champion has triumphed in its war against the other

The first Champion to descend to your Zone is the Wild Rider A loner and more at home with animals than people the Wild Rider’s true bond is only with his steed the Ivory Stag Pledging to the Wild Rider will immediately grant the Soul Bond Skill

The second Champion to descend to your Zone is the Skeleton Knight Brutal and efficient the Skeleton Knight prizes order and discipline above all else Pledging to the Skeleton Knight will immediately grant the Ancient Stamina Skill

The Wild Rider will be marked with a green pillar of light for two weeks The Skeleton Knight will be marked with a grey pillar of light for two weeks Good Luck and choose your Champion carefully for they will shape your Zone

Above him Simon could look and see the green pillar of light very close It seemed to be beyond the villages but still quite close Meanwhile the grey pillar of light was much farther away more to the South and East

While undoubtedly needing a Class Simon was also tempted by the thoughts of Skills by pledging to the two Champions But mostly he was drawn to the idea of the Wild Rider Not only was it closer but having a Soul Bond with a monster seemed rather interesting

Even through the thick fear and worry that had gripped his heart tightly since arriving at this place Simon felt a glimmer of hope Perhaps this world this world changed by the System wasn’t so bad after all

But still the caution won out Over the next several weeks Simon simply communicated with the traders who came through his spring which had become something of a trading outpost with several huts built for the people who passed through Simon learned about the two Champions

To the Southeast the Skeleton Knights had a castle in the middle of the badlands which most people had avoided anyway but they wanted to explore in the future to trade with the other villages He had an army of lesser skeletons too but most of those were deployed to the South struggling against Donnyton and Franksburg

Meanwhile the Wild Rider was very close to these villages and had taken over suppressing the nearby dungeon It was unclear from looking at the Wild Rider whether it was a man or a woman and they spoke only sparingly but they were fair and respectful Trade could be conducted with them and traveling in and out of their territory was fine

There were some drawbacks to both in the form of new and more powerful monster spawns in the surrounding area some of which obeyed the Champions but others which did not It made sense that the Wild Rider would bring more monsters suitable for riding but why did the Skeleton Knight fill the badlands with zombies and crypt spiders

The other news was mostly what Simon thought of as propaganda coming from the Southeast talking about the heroic battle to slay the Tier III Raid Boss Rumor had it that some of the Classers from the area were already at level 40 approaching 50 and could slay a normal Raid Boss with one hand

Both of Donnyton and Franksburg were upgraded villages and both had their strengths Donnyton was filled with interesting characters who led their squads to victory time and time again hunting in the badlands Even the Skeleton Knight was on his back foot against them and peace talks had begun

Meanwhile Franksburg had Lucifer the man who slew the Tier III Raid Boss Travelers claimed that the Ancient Rarity equipment he obtained was a cloak of darkness that allowed him to teleport

Simon was torn between believing them because of the System and calling them crazy

But it did serve as something of a spark So Simon set his goals and then trained and trained grinding up to the goals he set for himself After two long arduous months he finally reached those goals and looked nervously at his status screen

Health(/R per hour) 67/67 (33 5)

Mana(/R per hour) 108/108 (53)

Stam(/R per min) 43/43 (8)

Endurance 11

Strength 12

Agility 24

Perception 21

Reaction 20

Resistance 10

Willpower 10

Inteligence 52

Wisdom 25

Control 16

Skills Chosen of the Golden Lily Spring Lvl 175 Bash Resistance Lvl 15 Stab Resistance Lvl 6 Blood Clotting Lvl 22 Crushing Grip Lvl 18 Mana Bolt Lvl 40 Running Lvl 23 Physical Fitness Lvl 8 Bubble Lvl 26 First Aid Lvl 32 Meditation Lvl 31 Mana Shield Lvl 23 Herbalism Lvl 19 Healing Palm Lvl 17 Dodge Lvl 19 Bloom of the Golden Lily Lvl 5 Refine Lvl 20 Sense Ailment Lvl 33 Sixth Sense Lvl 22 Mending Stream Lvl 45 Water Jet Lvl 28 Water Manipulation Lvl 15

Scratching his head Simon wondered whether this would be enough He had put a lot into his Physical Stats just so he wasn’t too imbalanced but

He couldn’t wait much longer The two Champions had been here for months now marshalling their forces recruiting people They didn’t really mind what you did once you pledged but if they called you you had to come to battle where you would receive increased experience and skill gains Simon needed that to catch up even if he could only support It was time

A noise made Simon look up Reflexively his Sixth Sense skill flared to work scanning but there didn’t appear to be any danger Instead it felt like some sort of opportunity Here on the day he planned on finally leaving an opportunity

Bemused Simon Bliss trotted forward out of his small area carefully moving through the underbrush Rather than a monster like Simon had worried it was a person collapsed on the ground

Immediately Simon sensed something was wrong based on the posture In addition the man’s shoulder appeared to be bleeding and his shoes were stolen What sorta asshole monsters

This thought focused Simon’s attention once more He carefully scanned the surrounding area looking for the culprit The man wouldn’t have just been dumped here would he

But looking at the man with the perspective of his earlier thoughts Simon’s heart sank Of course he must have had a good sort of equipment as footwear and had been beaten and left to die Or even beaten where he had wandered here looking for Simon for aid for healing

The man had black hair to his shoulders and was wearing some strange sort of leather garb Perhaps he was related to the Wild Rider

A twig snapped nearby and Simon jumped his Sixth Sense scanning wildly consuming his Stamina without a thought But it was nothing just a small animal Timidly Simon crept forward out of the cover of the trees towards the man Once he was in range Simon activated Sense Ailment his senses extending towards the man

Immediately his senses recoiled and Simon was sent reeling his mind nearly splitting from the vicious pain that tore through him His Sense Ailment didn’t give him much traditional information it simply reproduced the ails the other was feeling in Simon’s body at only a fraction None of the other pains even complex fractures that left a grown man crying had even swayed Simon who admitted his tolerance for pain was pretty low

The fact he was experiencing that sort of head pain was unimaginable Some sort of head trauma

More fearful for the man’s life now than he was nervous Simon hurried closer rolling him over It looked like the man hadn’t shaven in a few days but it was hard to tell with all the dried blood on his face In addition there was a pretty deep wound on his stomach which would need looked at

Simon grimaced He really truly was trying to leave his safe haven He couldn’t in good conscious just leave the man there right

Chapter 291

Dragging the man back to his cabin was more difficult than he anticipated Truly though Simon had the strength in his gangly 14 year old body that a grown man would have he still didn’t have the size to heft him over his shoulder and could only drag him

Which wasn’t good for his wounds so Simon stopped periodically checking him before continuing his journey Once back at the cabin Simon stripped the man as best he could cutting away the ripped leathers revealing the wounds Simon winced Jagged but healing on his side and shoulder

The real problem was that head pain Simon guessed Maybe some internal bleeding or something Far beyond his skill in conventional means but

Simon brought out some of his Mending Fluid He had three types The basic the concentrated and his masterpiece a highly concentrated mixture that Simon believed would revive the dead He looked at all three torn

It took a lot to make any of these He had 10 regular vials which was enough to make a single concentrated He had three of those but it would take 10 of those vials to make his strongest concentration That pain though

Feeling like he wanted to play it safe Simon gave the man all three of his concentrated potions then settled to wait In the meantime he created more Mending Fluid and Meditated slowly wondering who this man was

It was clear from his hard muscled body that he was extremely active Perhaps a Classer from one of the nearby villages then But he wasn’t someone that Simon recognized Not that so many people came here these days mostly the same faces of the traders

What cemented this man’s status as a Classer in Simon’s mind were the dozens of crisscrossing scars on the man’s body In fact there were so many that Simon began to wonder whether the man hadn’t fought even BEFORE the System came It just seemed too complete for about 6 months His body had grown up receiving scars as if it was natural

A day passed Simon barely sleeping the man’s breathing easing somewhat but still remaining unconscious Surreptitiously Simon tried Sense Ailment already flinching

Which he was right to Once more Simon was sent to the ground barely sensible Only after a few seconds of twitching could he stand again

Fine Simon growled You’ve forced me to use my big guns

Both the extra concentrated mixture and another concentrated mixture that Simon had made these past few days went into the man

So it went for three weeks Simon putting off his travels to treat this man each day making a concentrated mixture refusing to use Sense Ailments again It was scary But Simon had to admit that if there was real brain damage then honestly there was nothing that he could really do to help the man

But after 21 days the man stirred Simon moved closer curious just in time to see the man’s eyes spring open wild and vicious glowing a strange unnatural mint green color The wave of bloodlust that seemed to radiate off the man sent Simon stumbling backwards scooting along the ground to get farther away

The man’s eyes were strangely confused but that slowly cleared as he winced raising a hand to his head He held that posture for several minutes seemingly content to just concentrate and let himself sit

Here Simon said aloud careful not to startle him Most of the bloodlust had left the air but still Simon held up a bowl of vegetable stew and another vial of his concentrated potion

Without blinking the man’s eyes turned to Simon seeming to take the boy in who shifted awkwardly A lot of people were confused how his arms and legs were so skinny but he had plenty of pudge on his torso It was something that had haunted Simon through all of middle school and high school had been looking pretty similar before the System hit

He had even lost some weight and put on some muscle too Not that you could really tell Not muscle like this guy had either of which Simon was slightly envious

After about 30 seconds of careful study the man seemed to relax and took both the food and the vial but set the food to the side Simon made a mental note of that Only when your Vitality was about 30 could you go for a while without eating and this man had gone 3 weeks without any food but the fluid and some water Simon gave him How much Vitality did he have Maybe upwards of 50

Then Simon’s eyes widened with shock because the man flicked the vial then concentrated and a single vial of the concentrated liquid focused further becoming a glowing golden drop of liquid This did however set off a chain reaction in the man where he leaned back grimacing seemingly wracked by pain Still he maintained a grip on the vial and lifted it to his mouth drinking the single drop of the stuff

Within 10 seconds his face eased and the man sighed rubbing his brow He nodded gratefully then picked up the bowl of food and devoured it within a minute Then he leaned back in his bed sighing

I’m Simon by the way Simon offered in a small voice

The man didn’t straighten but looked up at him from where he was lying There seemed to be something of an ironic smile on his face

Finally he spoke David

Nice to meet you David Simon said meekly It takes a lot of Mana but I’ll make you some more of that fluid when I can

The man’s eyes brightened at that and he waved a hand Abruptly Simon realized that the man had an interspatial ring A Classer for sure then Watching carefully Simon’s mouth dropped For the man had removed around 20 Mana potions out of the blue without a thought Then the man collapsed returning to fitful sleep

Simon almost dropped David’s potions when he picked them up because they restored over 100 Mana per consumption

Holy fuck Simon whispered But again that small spark of desire that had been smothered inside of him at the arrival of the man flared back to life If this was the power of the equipment available to Classers Simon had to leave this place no matter how scared he was

Randidly groaned taking stock of himself It wasn’t good but he was beginning to cope with the worst of the effects

When Randidly had used his skill and that Aegiant fellow had struck back at his image Aegiant had forcibly shattered it Not just the image itself but the flow of Aether inside Randidly’s soul that channeled and produced it Literally the skill construct inside of him had been blown to smithereens hundreds of small pieces of Aether scattering inside of him

Which normally would be fine because the pain only came when the broken skill was activated But these small bits had flown into other skill structures becoming lodged in them And every time he activated a skill with a bit inside of it there was a resonance with the broken skill which caused the pain to spike precipitously

Additionally it kept him from concentrating hard enough to see his notifications or bringing up his menus All in all Randidly was basically just a person before the System now who didn’t dare use his Skills for fear of that vicious mental agony far worse than anything he had ever experienced

The active skills were easy but the reason the pain had been so bad initially was probably because Bacterial Regeneration was working overtime while Randidly was out remaking his body Thankfully this kid had a strange elixir that helped ease the pain and heal the wound but

It would take time Randidly experimented briefly while he lay there for the next hour or so carefully touching a fragment of the destroyed skill in Bacterial Regeneration The pain immediately flared to life but it was at a manageable level rather than the strange resonance pain

Slowly ponderously he pressed it moving it careful not to jostle it too much spiking the pain Of course it was still miserable but

It would move

Randidly collapsed exhausted Well it would move slowly but giving him access to that skill would probably take him 8 hours of concerted agony slowly moving the bits out of the way into the empty space inside of him And Bacterial Regeneration was towards the outside with some of the fewest pieces inside of it Some of the others

A long slow recovery Randidly thought grimly Which was why he had lied about his name to Simon although the kid seemed nice enough Although he had his high stats Randidly didn’t have access to skills or even his menu at the moment Best to be safe

Especially if his vision about Lyra and the Creature was true

In addition Randidly wanted to determine what was going on within the Zone before he did anything else There had been other villages and he wanted to check on how they were developing

If anything being dropped away from Donnyton like this was a blessing Less a chance that someone recognizes him here while he needed time to recuperate Sighing Randidly lay back and let himself drift off to sleep

Chapter 292

Simon looked at his companion with some concern Are you sure you are recovered enough to travel

David nodded his eyes calmer than Simon would have believed based on how he had seemed wracked by pain over the last three days Simon did value how little David seemed to speak content to nod and gesture rather than communicate Which was a relief in a way because they seemed to fit well together Simon waiting silently and the older man just seeming to struggle with his internal injury

To Simon’s surprise although David did not really talk he was pretty effective at communicating his desires his current desire was to leave with Simon on his journey to receive a Class Abruptly faced with this truth Simon had hemmed and hawed saying that he didn’t believe David’s condition had progressed to an acceptable level but that had just made the other man hobble away to a nearby bush removing the strange minty blue berries there

Then the man began to brew Mana potions the implication clear If David’s condition was insufficient provide more of the Mending Fluid

Which was ONE way of solving the problem but it wasn’t the way that Simon would have preferred True he had almost left weeks ago when David had arrived but now things were different somehow Before Simon had convinced himself that the world wasn’t as bad as he had imagined

Now that he had left once and found the beaten and robbed David well that shattered that world view

What was strangest about the strange new traveler was that he refused Simon’s spare shoes it almost seemed like a point of pride to David that he didn’t have shoes Perhaps his shoes had some sentimental value After the System arrived life was much much cheaper than it had been previously even though there were many many fewer living souls in the world

As the slimes in the apartment near Simon had demonstrated this System was designed to eliminate the weak

Well okay then Simon said unsure of what to say and the two of them began their travels North The distance they were traveling wasn’t far maybe just 12 miles but it was through territory where there were prevalent monsters This was due to the fact they had to traverse around the base of the dungeon that transformed after the Tribulation succeeded in eradicating the humans who had lived there

These were monsters that were transformed humans those who received a Class from that village transformed by the fallen village and forced to respawn over and over fighting with madness the entire time

Simon was suddenly regretting his decision to leave their safe zone and glanced at his companion his heart pounding But there was something profoundly calming about watching the other man walk There was just a surety to him Nothing would go wrong

Screeching several howler monkeys jumped down and ran towards the two of them Before Simon could respond David stepped forward and karate chopped the front runner That monkey fell back reeling and another monkey attempted to tackle David

Unfortunately Simon was standing behind David unable to assist with that one but he was able to turn and point at the third oncoming monkey A blast of water smashed forward sending that monkey stumbling Two bubbles followed popping next to the monkey’s face his ear drums rupturing blood pouring out of its ears

Simon glanced at the tackling monkey and surprised to find it reeling David must have used some martial art because from the corner of his eye it had almost seemed like the monkey had run into David and just bounced off This further cemented in Simon’s mind that David fought even before the System was here

Those sort of skills you couldn’t learn them in 6 months It was impressive

The final monkey seemed to notice what was going on and skidded to a stop then it turned and fled leaving its disoriented and wounded comrades David calmly walked forward grabbing the necks of monkeys and wringing them

Feeling pretty good about the experience Simon walked forward and used Crushing Grip on the deafened monkey wringing its neck The creature died but Simon shivered somewhat Even though it definitely would have killed them it was hard to stomach taking another life after

That boys screams

Simon pressed his eyes closed his body trembling Breathing became a struggle until he felt a soft pressure A hand on his shoulder

Simon opened his eyes and looked at David From David’s expression it was clear that some of his injuries were acting up after the fight but still the lines of his face were filled with concern for Simon Feeling oddly helpless Simon forced himself to straighten and produced some concentrated Mending Liquid for the man who smiled wryly at him but took the vial

Again that liquid got Refined to a tiny golden drop which David then consumed His expression eased In silence they both turned and proceeded onwards

It seemed that the display against the monkeys had done a lot to scare the nearby monsters because for the next 4 hours they didn’t encounter anything Until a group of humans came up to them led by a stocky woman riding a bear Simon blinked

Really riding a bear That was possible

The groups regarded each other in silence for several minutes sizing each other up all the while Simon’s tension mounting Rather than him the bear riding woman seemed to be considering David

Simon looked between them noticing how their eyes locked But while the woman seemed extremely fierce there was a mildness in David’s expression which was even more tireless

Finally the woman spoke You are you pledged to the Skeleton King I don’t want trouble and your strength is obvious but

David shook his head and the woman relaxed visibly She raised her hand and it flashed green a strange symbol in the air Ah that’s much better then I hail from Star Crossing but I am pledged to the Wild Rider Are you from the Refuge

David turned to Simon with a frown and Simon whispered It’s the Westmost village controlled by survival enthusiasts and martial arts nuts mostly Combat focused hunters

His expression clearing David turned back to the woman and nodded She seemed to relax further but turned to Simon with a grin

Does our friend never talk

It’s not that he never does but Simon turned to David the other man looking down at him with his deep emerald eyes After he was unable to find the right thoughts Simon just shrugged It’s almost as if he doesn’t need to He’s communicative in other ways

David smiled The woman laughed A man after my own heart My name’s Thea Thea Glasshammer Where are you two headed

Star Crossing Simon supplied I I’ve decided to finally acquire a Class And maybe pledge to the Wild Hunter

Thea’s eyes brightened and she gave a sidelong glance to David Now your friend clearly already has a Class but will he be joining you in your pledge

David just smiled That seemed to drain the rest of the fight out of Thea and she hopped off her bear a giant black thing and walked over Now that she was on the ground Simon realized that she wasn’t nearly as stocky as he had initially thought she simply looked that way wrapped in thick fur armor

His eyes were almost inadvertently drawn to her hips which swung with a very noticeable sway Simon gulped

One of the two men who accompanied Thea a man wearing a grey robe chuckled The other a warrior type with a large ax seemed completely uninterested in the conversation though his eyes had not left David for a second since the groups had met

That’s Jast and Teo Thea said pointing to the mage and then to the warrior in turn And this big lug is Chrysanthemum

It took Simon several moments to realize that she meant the bear The bear’s name was Chrysanthemum and the creature was big enough to swallow 6 of him With such little distance between them Simon could barely stand his ground If it attacked

David shared none of Simon’s concerns stepping forward and reaching out towards the bear It sniffed him idly then seemed to nod deigning to allow him to touch her Thea chuckled

Don’t be surprised but bears were already pretty smart to begin with but the Soul Bond Skill imbues your bonded animal with a portion of your stats and that includes Intelligence She can tell how you strong are more easily than even I can

This made David frown and he crouched on his haunches lowering his eyes to Chrysanthemum’s The two regarded each other Simon made to say something but Thea held up a hand stopping him her smile slipping off her face

For 20 seconds the two regarded each other

Chrysanthemum growled David rumbled deep in his chest in response All at once the two exploded into motion David rushing to the side avoiding the swipe of Chrysanthemum’s paw The two began to streak between the trees Chrysanthemum clearly the faster of the two but David much more agile moving like a ghost among the trees

They are playing Jast asked gaping And Thea just nodded her expression torn Simon blinked several times

David was playing with a bear

Chapter 293

The group of the 6 of them arrived at Star Crossing everyone in a rather good mood They had encountered a recently spawned Tier I Raid Boss taking it by surprise due to David’s quick warning and were able to harvest three pieces of equipment from its corpse One of which Thea offered to David but he shook his head firmly gesturing to Simon

So Simon found himself with his first piece of System generated equipment

Chainmail of the Metal Scarecrow Lvl 22 An armor made from the torso of the Iron Scarecrow Powerful deterrent against flying opponents Endurance +5 Stamina +30

Simon couldn’t keep the smile off his face The boost to Endurance could keep him alive but the Stamina bonus helped him keep up his mobility for longer in a fight With this alone he definitely felt safer For the first time Simon felt like it was worth the effort to come out here to town

And he hadn’t even gotten his Class yet

You can find the Village Chieftain in the lodge he will take you to the Village Spirit Thea said almost as if she could read Simon’s mind as she waved to a few passing people I have to head up and back to the Wild Rider’s preserve hopefully we meet again

She flashed David a smile and rode off on her bear the pair lumbering forward The two others split off going their own ways

Star Crossing was set up strangely because it was built on the bones of a weird corner of town that contained two gas stations two motels and a quaint little inn The inn was called the Star Crossing which was where the Village got its name and the other buildings had been retrofitted to suit their new purposes The motels had been expanded and now seemed more like a dormitory than anything else One gas station was a weapons and supplies store the other food and storage

The road between the two gas stations was filled with stalls where people sold their wares There was also a large recently constructed stable at the far end of the road on which these buildings sat and from what Simon could see it was filled with some very strange mounts

Evidence of the Wild Rider

Apparently David’s thoughts had gone in a similar direction because he was looking over towards the stable and frowning Then his quizzical gaze shifted to Simon

Probably built it for all the people pledging to the Wild Rider Because it is so close to here

David’s gaze sharpened and he made a vague gesture in the direction that Thea had left in Simon’s eyes widened If he was understanding the man correctly

You don’t know about the Wild Rider About Champions Simon asked feeling confused David shook his head

So for 5 minutes they stood there and Simon explained what he knew of the Champions both from the notifications and from gathering information since while people traveled through his small spring Although he had only been gone for several hours he already felt a small pang of homesickness It had been a rough few months and that place had kept him safe so

But then he mentally chided himself at his diverted attention Much more intriguing was the fact that David seemed so perplexed by the Champions Had he somehow missed their arrival But that didn’t really make sense Unless he was held captive for a while before he was beaten and released But that would make his captivity at least a month

At some point David seemed satisfied and just shrugged and then pointed towards the Star Crossing Inn Back to business

Nodding Simon followed David who walked confidently through the crowd towards the inn It was illuminating to see how people treated David Simon had thought that Thea’s reaction was somewhat strange especially since she hadn’t yet seen him in action How had she so quickly known that he was powerful

But everyone here knew somehow Not in a direct way Simon guessed but through some sixth sense Taller and broader men stepped out of the way of David almost subconsciously shooting him furtive glances once he walked past Looking at David’s back Simon once again reevaluated his companion

This sort of comfort even with the scrutiny he was seeing this confidence perhaps he was famous before the System Like a high ranking person in MMA or something It wouldn’t really explain the scars though which were not wounds you received from fighting with fists

When they arrived at the inn’s doors a bored looking man scanned them both What are you here for

I Simon gulped down his fear and tried again I want to get a Class

Oho Usually we don’t get Classless riffraff showing up these days Everyone who wants one is already a member of a village Everyone else is either settled or part of the Class research initiative Why so late boy

Simon frowned He was 14 and the man in front of him was middle aged but he had sorta assumed most of those dumb things had disappeared Apparently that was not the case David folded his arms standing behind Simon giving him the strength to open his mouth once more and say Because I waited

Waving a hand the man turned away Fine fine No need to unleash your pet dog on me Jeesh Standard procedure an applicant has to select one of four roles to determine the test for the Class Are you a Tank Damage Dealer Control Or Support Are both of you taking the test

David shook his head Simon thought about it

I suppose Support The man nodded going over to a messy desk and rummaging around before producing a piece of paper

Support eh Alright what kind You can choose Physical Mage Healer or Detector

Like Simon hesitated glancing at David David pointed forward mimicking Simon when he shot the blast of water at the monkey Simon blushed

Mage

Mage easiest test too Lucky you you have a chance Support type Just show me what you can do

A flash of anger rose in Simon’s chest But instead of lashing out Simon felt profoundly sneaky David punch him

David grinned then walked calmly towards the man his fists clenched The man snorted

Nice try but I’m a melee Tank Clever support kid but The man hadn’t moved at all as David approached and even let David karate chop him

The bone shattered with an audible crunch Screaming the man fell to the ground The inn went silent around them

Simon was wide eyed looking at David David for his part seemed extremely confused He looked at his hand then at the man then back to his hand Then he turned to Simon and of all things shrugged

Oh for the love of Simon said rushing over to the screaming man pointing He activated Mending Stream and the water fell on the man’s body very quickly numbing the pain and jump starting the man’s natural healing process

I was kidding earlier I’m a Healer Simon said thinking on the fly his tongue feeling very fat and dry in his mouth I just wanted this to demonstrate my ability

You You fuckers The man said furious his eyes hard but he was trembling still sitting on the ground glaring at David Luckily the break was a simple one and within 30 seconds the bone had healed snapping back into place restoring mobility The pain was undoubtedly completely gone but the man rose cradling his arm

If you think that you can join the town after injuring me you have another fucking thing coming The man bellowed just as a group of guards led by a familiar face ran into the room

Heh Teo the warrior chuckled taking in the scene with his direct gaze Causing trouble already No wonder Thea liked y’all What seems to be the problem

Chapter 294

Luckily it seemed that the man in front of the inn Kirkland was widely hated and Teo readily accepted the fact that Simon had David break Kirkland’s arm to demonstrate his healing After all Kirkland couldn’t deny that they healed him while also claiming they maliciously attacked them

Teo herded the still huffing and trembling Kirkland away then turned and spoke to David The Village Spirit will be down soon You owe me a favor And you know what I want

David seemed to sigh and Teo grinned wider before leaving Simon frowned and spoke while everyone else left

He wants something From you

David nodded glumly then punched his fist into his hand with an audible wack then pointed to himself and then out the door Simon’s eyes widened He wants to fight you

Smiling wryly David sat and began to focus his attention inward his expression becoming clouded Simon was already used to David doing this at every free moment and it seemed to have some effect on the man’s recovery so Simon let him be

Instead Simon wondered idly why Teo would be so excited about a fight to request it as a favor especially after seeing David play with Chrysanthemum and now shattering a man’s arm His Strength was high Maybe as high as 60 or even 70

Simon shuddered right when a small child skipped into the room taking in both of the people here with a single glance

Ha The girl laughed pointing at David Oh wow how did you get so fucked up on your inside I can’t even pick it apart You Someone shattered one of your skills forcibly Hahaahah What terrible luck I can’t tell your level and Class with all of the interference but with the average strength of this planet you are doomed to die Go have sex or something enjoy your last weeks before the headaches get worse

David just seemed aggrieved but ignored the child as she came skipping towards Simon Eventually she stopped her eyes opening wide too wide taking him all in She had no iris or pupils just a pure white eyeball to match her short white hair

Hmm Yes I think you’ll do You can have a Class if you want one My power gives people some of the best Classes Well not the best Classes per se but I let you see a bit about each class before you choose Wow what a bonus Okay ready The girl was looking at Simon expectantly

Checking to make sure David’s face was still neutral Simon nodded After the girl gestured impatiently he stepped forward and allowed her to press her hands to his shoulders the little girl struggling up on her tiptoes to do so For a second nothing happened but then it was like a circuit was completed and he felt power passing between them

There was a flash and three Class options appeared in front of Simon Before he had taken in any of that information more information appeared below that blurring for a second then settling into readable forms

Dreamer A strange Class which focuses on the imagination of the user Skills and talents vary based on the user Class Skills 1 Skill Slots 12 Stats per lvl 3 Score 56/100

Assassin A Class specialized in stealth and surprise attacks Given enough time Assassins can kill almost anyone Class Skills 4 Skill Slots 6 Stats per lvl 4 Score 69/100

Wave Guardian A powerful Class that combines physical and magical skills these defensive individuals specialize in water magic and protection Class Skills 2 Skill Slots 6 Stats per lvl 5 Score 75/100

Simon glanced through the Classes very quickly surprised He had heard that the Classes you received came from three sources a scan of you right when the System arrived a random Class and then a scan of your capabilities currently And honestly Simon was quite pleased with all three It was also convenient that they were scored

Immediately Simon felt a powerful desire to be an Assassin just from all the MMOs where he had played just that role but he quickly silenced that notion Especially because there was Wave Guardian which was 6 points better based on the scoring system that the Village Spirit possessed

Plus Wave Guardian was water focused which was the direction Simon wanted to head anyway and possessed an extra stat per level Simon opened his mouth to make his choice

Simon

The voice was softer than Simon would have expected more youthful and surprised him so much he stepped to the side awkwardly But David was staring at him intently

Before you make your choice the Village Spirit changed the scores at the last second Originally the score for Dreamer was 76

Hey You Wait how did you even see that Do you have a detection skill The girl’s anger melted into curiosity within seconds seemingly completely fine with being caught in her lie When David didn’t say anything further the girl shrugged turning to Simon Well yes he’s right but I did it for your own good Wave Guardian is the better option

Especially for someone trying to defend a village David said his voice still low Simon that Class does not suit you

Suddenly Simon felt a sinking feeling in his chest That was what this was about That he wasn’t strong enough for a combat Class

With his hands balled into fists he said There are more Class skills and higher stat gains Plus the Class is focused on water I know I’m not Not very brave or strong or or fucking like you but I can learn and then

Yea you could But you would not be happy Learning to hurt others is not worth it when your gifts lie elsewhere David said quietly his eyes closing Abruptly David seemed to have aged several years the developing wrinkles in the corners of his eyes clear

The girl started clapping Wow so philosophical Well I’ll tell you another little secret although this will hurt a bit Mr Emo Philosopher here is right in a way the Class skill you get is powerful enough in its way to raise the score that high And

Grunting the girl leaned forward then tumbled to the ground beginning to flail David chuckled then turned to Simon What she wanted to say I bet is that the skills you get every 10 levels will be similarly powerful But of course it’s your choice

Was it really his choice Simon supposed so but he was faced with two choices and he hated it It felt like he was choosing between the person he was the spoiled useless brat before the System came and the person he wanted to be

Strong confident able to defeat enemies and help people Powerful water magic healing protective spells everything could be his if he chose the Wave Defender All he had to do was face his fear and fight

Pressing his eyes closed Simon for the first time forced himself to look at the image of that child chased by the hippopotamuses about to die For that boy didn’t he have to fight Wasn’t he angry enough at the unfairness of the world that he would fight for that kid

But looking at the child instead of that anger there was only a cold dread A thick layer of fear settled in his chest stifling his ability to breathe How could Simon ever hope to fight these monsters even with a Class

Feeling somewhat defeated Simon selected Dreamer

Congratulations You have received the Class of Dreamer You have gained the skill Astral Projection Lvl 1 You may learn 12 additional skills to these and those you already possess Skills may be forgotten to learn new skills +6 Health per Level +16 Mana Per Level +6 Stamina per level +2 Reaction Wisdom or Control per level (these points may be distributed between 2)

Astral Projection Simon mused But before he could try it he was interrupted by the girl hopping to her feet and clapping

Perfect Welcome to Star Crossing There are some things I need to personally take care of but I’ve assigned Thea Glasshammer to assist in helping you level when she returns from visiting the Wild Hunter She’s the one that brought you in yes Hopefully you will get along well For now feel free to fight some weaker monsters in the surrounding areas and familiarize yourself with your new skill Good luck

She turned to leave and then called over her shoulder Oh and you I sorta hope you don’t go insane from the pain and die yanno Then she was gone

David actually chuckled and the two of them walked out of the main inn receiving some surly looks from the guards Apparently they had not done themselves any favors by attacking that dick head

Hey thanks Simon said lamely I I think you are right but I just wanted

David only nodded

Simon scratched his head as the two of them pushed their way through the stalls towards the edge of the Village If you could talk this whole time why haven’t you Did I

David gave him a look but it contained all the meaning it needed I didn’t talk because I didn’t need to

Nodding lamely Simon followed the older man into the woods thinking that he wished David would talk more while simultaneously wishing he wouldn’t The silence was nice and Simon didn’t feel the pressure to answer but it was a bit lonely Still at least they were doing this together

Simon’s smile was bitter Everything was like this for him He both liked and hated every option which meant he was just never satisfied He had hoped that this would change with the System but life was still life

Chapter 295

Thea Glasshammer saluted to the Executive Directors of Star Crossing

Report Andre said the tall African American man who had seized the golden coin to found the town and established himself as chairman of the village

The Wild Rider actually thinks the Skeleton Knight is losing the war against the villages to the South based on his movements Thea said with a frown

This is a bad thing Denise a thin Asian woman interjected

From what the Wild Rider says yes Thea confirmed Although they can decimate his forces it would be a miracle if they managed to kill him His stats are just too much higher than even their best Meanwhile the more pressure he’s under

The faster he grows That’s how the Champions work Cale drawled the final member of the Executive Board a slightly overweight man who had been a baker before the change

Exactly Thea confirmed

And the Wild Rider remains unwilling to act Andre asked frowning

Yes According to them the way this should have played out was the Skeleton Knight expanding hunting for the Wild Rider Meanwhile the Wild Rider would be running and hiding waiting for his Ivory Stag to grow up from an infant It would be a race would the Skeleton Knight catch the Wild Rider in his net or would the stag grow powerful enough to turn the tide Thea said The pressure from the chase would be important because it would hasten the growth As it is

So because it is safe the growth is slow Cale said shaking his head Which is terrible news for us

Worse news for the Southern Villages Denise commented She turned to Andre Has the Southern Boogeyman shown up Or are they still fighting on their own

Andre was still frowning when he spoke It is possible but based on what our scouts have said the Ghosthound is still missing Which is a blessing and a curse if what is stated about his powers are to be believed Either way his actions jump started those Villages to the point they don’t need him to go toe to toe with the skeleton army

Thea kept her mouth shut for this part of the conversation even though she had so many questions to ask She had of course heard of the Ghosthound a man who had started the first village in their Zone shaped and protected the second planted a tree and started a cult and then abruptly disappeared right when the Tier III Raid Boss arrived

But everyone agreed he was the most powerful individual they had ever seen And the rumor was that he didn’t even have a Class

Which was a crazy prospect Thea knew that logically most Classes didn’t add THAT much extra stats per level but the bonuses to Health Mana and Stamina alone were enough to make the difference in a fight in most cases How could a Classless person hope to match that with just what he received for finishing paths The more well received theory was that he had a Soul Skill but that was even more troubling Aside from the 4 people he had given Soul Skills to and the Village Founders Soul Skill none others were known

The fact he had done this much on his own

So people focus Andre said his hands spreading out on the wood of the table What do we do What does the Wild Rider want

They definitely want to do something Thea supplied shrugging The problem will only be exacerbated if we allow the conflict with the Southern Villages to buoy the Skeleton Knight’s strength without getting the Wild Rider involved But all of the options are bad ones

If it’s a matter of Cale began leaning forward but Andre gave him a look They all three fell silent and Thea felt inwardly furiously The leaders of Star Crossing were hiding things from her simply because she had pledged to the Wild Rider Although most of the people had pledged there was something about the situation holding the Executive Board back

They were unwilling to fully trust the Champion that had descended to their world even though the alternative was so abhorrent Perhaps it was only because the Skeleton Knight’s reign was such a far cry from the freedom these people desired that the Executive Board kept her around in such a high position at all

Either way it rankled Through her mental connection to Chrysanthemum Thea felt her companion’s emotion turn angry as her own emotions bled over Quickly she schooled herself as best she could keeping her face impassive

There is another reason we called you here Denise said turning to Thea Those two you brought in One of them was given a Class We’d like it if you could assist in his early leveling He also expressed interest in the Wild Rider so

Simon was it Thea said remembering the two figures Remembering the visceral feeling of Chrysanthemum’s joy as she had played with the other man David

Denise paused yes I believe so A lovely name Anyway help them but watch them too They caused some trouble when they went for a Class The usual arrogant sort of violence Something to watch out for

Thea had a very hard time believing that but she nodded anyway

A gong began to sound Cale swore Denise’s eyes narrowed

Well it seems we have company Andre said mildly as he stood

Randidly grunted with exertion his will straining The worst part of this whole recovery was how fucking squirrelly the bits of his broken skill were as they were embedded in the wrong place They seemed to wriggle aiming to get around his pressing will

It had swiftly become apparent that while his skill being smashed to pieces was the main injury his Battle Intent and therefore his application of will was also heavily injured Luckily the amorphous quality he had chosen for it meant that his will was well on its way to reforming

Randidly supposed he shouldn’t be surprised He had let his Battle Intent take a beating against Drak then overexerted himself using his new skill too many times and then he had used it against a Master class opponent who had absolutely steamrolled him Surprising honestly that the injuries weren’t any worse

But that was slowly recovering so he was becoming increasingly even handed with his surgery With a grunt Randidly leaned back relaxing somewhat letting the dull ache of pain fade away Several bits of broken skill floated in the space where the skill was once housed liberated

Randidly had been able to completely clear the skills Bacterial Regeneration Running and Hammer of the Dawn A strangely eclectic list but they were the most commonly used skills of the ones that had a light serving of the bits of skill

What Randidly really needed to clear out was Physical Fitness and Fighting Proficiency the two passive skills that were basically causing him constant low grade agony Fighting Proficiency wasn’t so bad but Physical Fitness had 9 bits embedded in it one of the worst ones And these were all deep worming their way into the crucial bits of the skill

While Randidly could remove them moving them incorrectly or too quickly or too ANYTHING meant that there was a strange irritation to his pain This irritation led to persistent debilitating headaches that could only be sated through the use of the Mending Fluid that Simon provided

Which meant that the limiting factor in Randidly’s recovery speed was really Simon not that he would ever tell the kid that He had enough stress on his plate Currently he was over in the corner curled up practicing his Astral Projection Skill

Randidly’s inherent suspicion of Village Spirits had driven him to intercede but he wondered whether that was for the best He truly believed that remaining a Dreamer was the honest to self path for Simon But perhaps it was far far more difficult to maintain that innocence in the world after the System

Maybe just after coming back from Shal’s world seeing Simon had triggered a nostalgia in Randidly foolish as it was

Randidly scratched his hands strangely irritated Well the reason wasn’t strange He hated this weakness this waiting At no point in his life had he ever been disabled like this And honestly this wasn’t a very complete disability He was just less overpowered

Or more accurately less able to refine himself and pursue his goals Randidly had a lot of things he wanted to accomplish finding his friends addressing the Creature’s use of Lyra’s identity but right now he wasn’t sure how he would fare in either endeavor He simply didn’t know enough about the Zone Where could they be

And there was something about the Champions that raised Randidly’s hackles More hooks that the System could put into you But he was curious too His Aether detection wasn’t sophisticated but there didn’t seem to be anything like an Aether tether other than the Class one on Thea Glasshammer In fact the only other connection was between her and the bear

Randidly abruptly straightened his eyes flashing Grimacing he drank some of the refined fluid Simon sat bolt upright

Trouble The boy began before collapsing into a fit of wheezing A gong began to sound likely a call to arms Randidly just yawned cracking his neck

Some light exercise would be nice

Chapter 296

Simon was trembling but there was something about David’s cool confidence that helped ground him Still the other man hadn’t seen what was coming so there was still a vicious live wire of worry at Simon’s core After all in his Astral Projection form he had managed to see how large the assault was

And based upon what he saw these first waves were only the beginning

The two of them walked out of their small tent seeing people respond in an impressively orderly fashion Most people and the few children that were here walked back and away heading towards the Star Crossing Inn Meanwhile those grim faced individuals with weapons and armor pushed the other way heading towards the perimeter of the village

David immediately began heading towards the perimeter which is what Simon thought they SHOULD do but had he been alone it was hard to say whether he would have actually done it

As they pushed through the crowd they saw a familiar face standing up on top of a low wall receiving reports and directing people to different areas Thea She saw them almost immediately her eyes drawn to David’s rather imposing air Simon supposed After a brief hesitation she hopped down off the wall and approached the two of them

I didn’t know if you guys would be willing to fight She said her eyes burning as she looked at David David looked at Simon Simon gulped

Well anyway we are glad to have you Stay with me you can be considered an addition to my battle group for now Accept the party invite it will help keep communications up When the notification popped up Simon accepted it immediately David you are this messed up name correct I’ll send you an invite too

Thea was already turning away moving deeper in the lines yelling for people to move to reinforce different areas but Simon paused David was glaring forward struggle written on his face as he looked at the air in front of him That familiar expression of pain was there too as he struggled with whatever injury plagued him

After a few seconds it passed but David just shook his head his expression annoyed Then he caught Simon’s eye and gave a small smile tilting his head forward Nodding wordlessly they followed Thea Simon wondering what happened

Did his injury prevent him from receiving notifications The Village Spirit did say that he was extremely unlucky and would go mad from the pain and die Was it a System related injury

That possibility was seeming increasingly likely and increasingly difficult to work around Simon’s skill with Mending Liquid had been steadily increasing but it didn’t really seem like it was increasing fast enough David’s body was a veritable black hole for the stuff Clenching his fists Simon resolved himself to commit more fully to its production With the Mana potions that David could make it was rather simple and it was good for some PP

The area around Star Crossing was filled with low rolling hills that broke up the terrain and made it rather difficult to climb especially for Simon who realized that he needed to invest more stats in physical areas But the difficulties cut both ways and when they reached the top of the hill they would be fighting from it became apparent that Star Crossing had handled things like this before

The side of the hill the enemy had to climb had been sheared away with only a criss crossing series of stone steps cutting back and forth all the way up Otherwise the angle of the terrain was too steep to climb

Inwardly Simon was very glad they had arrived from a direction not facing a dungeon

But that relief drained away as he looked out at the horde approaching the hill his heart tightening Their bones and jaws clacked creepily as they moved their bodies swaying to and fro carrying broken and rusted weapons The skeletons’ eyes gleamed with a red light as they looked up at them seeming to grin

Thea swore quietly getting up on Chrysanthemum’s back At least the fuckers will take some time to get up here Long range attackers Fire at will

Immediately a slew of Mana Bolts Fireballs and Entangling Roots erupted staggering and destroying a lot of the front line of skeletons They didn’t appear to be sturdy at all but disconnecting the bones did little Severed arms continued to inch forward the bones of the fingers struggling to drag them forward

Torsos that had simply lost their legs were even worse dragging themselves gleefully up the back of their compatriots riding forward There was a certain joy to the skeletons Simon thought numbly They were enjoying this

The heads Thea bellowed Hit the heads and the animation of the bones ends

Now the skeletons had come close enough that the non mages could fire and hatchets arrows and throwing knives whistled out hitting the front line aiming for their skulls This time a lot of those skeletons that were taken down stayed down but there were more coming

Congratulations You have leveled up You are now level 2

Simon blinked then chuckled Party experience huh Because he hadn’t really done anything so far

David pointed his expression firm clear of the usual pain that he had when moving around For a second nothing happened and Simon felt a pang of pity Was his access to the System truly damaged That would end up getting him killed in this world as he is unable to grow more powerful or

A flame hammer the size of a moped crashed into the spot where David was pointing 5 skeletons near the epicenter of the crash were vaporized instantly When it hit the hammer splashed liquid fire which began to burn away 6 7 others that were nearby Beyond that a dozen or so fell to the ground the shockwave shattering their bones or knocking them to the ground

Then with increasing speed David pointed again and again and altogether 10 of those hammers crashed down destroying the densest part of the enemy’s forces leaving them with large holes in their ranks as they marched forward Even after they hit they continued to cause problems as they burned bright and hot for around 30 seconds before dissipating

Attacks from our side stopped as everyone just looked wide eyed at the scene in front of them Of all of the other skills used none of them was really as effective as an arrow which could pierce a skull and destroy the skeleton Fireball incapacitated but was rarely hot enough to melt the skull Mana Bolt shattered it sometimes if it was strong enough but you had to hit at just the right angle Entangling Roots was just a delaying tactic

This was like watching somebody play a video game David pointed and 50 skeletons were instantly killed another 150 debilitated or put out of commission Just how

Don’t let your guard down They are still coming Thea bellowed Then she turned quietly and said to David Weren’t you a close range type

David did his typical shrug and Thea could only sigh Well if you need Mana potions I can

Waving his hand David produced 3 Mana potions all of them a dark blue much more potent than the ones he had given to Simon drinking them all at once Then he gave the two of them a thumbs up

Simon wasn’t sure what was scarier That he had potions more powerful than restoring 100 each or that he was able to casually drink 3 of those more powerful potions without so much as blinking He didn’t display any sort of mental strain there which you would usually experience if you used too much Mana too quickly around half of your pool And he had drank those 3 potions

Even assuming they ONLY restored 150 which was one of the most silly statements Simon had ever thought that meant he had over 900 mana

Simon had just over a 100 Plus David was better with his physical stats

Honestly Did this man have any weaknesses at all

Chapter 297

Although it looked flashy Randidly regretted using most of his Mana pool and all of the Mana from the few energy storage rings he had been able to make in the past several days Honestly he hadn’t given much thought to the aftermath but without access to the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil and Meditate his Mana Regeneration was half of what it usually was

230 an hour was probably an amount that would make other people horrified but to Randidly it simply wasn’t enough Inwardly he made a mental note to work on freeing up a skill that cost less from the influence of the Aether Shards Still he had enough Mana potions to push him back to fighting strength But he would not be doing that display again in the near future

Thea was still giving him a strange look which made him slightly uncomfortable Randidly knew that it would perhaps be better to keep a low profile avoiding the notice of the Creature for now but it seemed Donnyton was busy dealing with their own skeleton problem Hopefully this town was beyond its range

But that wasn’t a real hope Honestly Randidly just didn’t know enough about how the Creature was acting and what it wanted But it hadn’t sought him out yet and in such a state there wasn’t much else he could do

No right now Randidly’s primary concern would be healing himself and Simon’s potion was critical for that Randidly didn’t want to be cruel but the faster Simon grew and leveled the more quickly he would have Mana to make more of his fluid Also the more valuable Randidly was to the village and to Simon the more likely he would receive the materials he needed to grind the healing out quickly

Randidly grinned Plus this was going to be fun as fuck He hadn’t done anything like this since Franksburg was dealing with the monster horde

Without saying anything to the two individuals next to him Randidly stepped forward hopping down off the hill sliding his way down towards the sea of skeletons The leaders of the pack were still staggering avoiding the flames the Hammers of the Dawn had left but they looked up when Randidly arrived before them their jaws clacking

Randidly flexed his fingers careful with what he did trying to keep the physicality of the movements to a minimum while relying solely on Fighting Proficiency In spite of his efforts the small bits of Aether lodged in his passive skills began to ache

His hands blurred striking out left and right and then Randidly stepped forward moving very quickly into the middle of another group His hands were like iron claws smashing the skeletons to pieces They were almost comically slow and clumsy compared to him and Randidly wasn’t even using his spear he was simply relying on his superior stats and the bonuses from Fighting Proficiency

Thea was yelling his name and then frantically calling out orders but Randidly just grinned It didn’t matter if they kept shooting spells they wouldn’t really be able to hurt them But while his newfound silence was a heavy burden in some ways that Randidly wanted to stay within the comfortable ambiguity for now Better to just remain silent and let things work themselves out

With a slight grin Randidly pushed deeper

Simon was breathing heavily carefully aiming his Bubbles and Water Jet then using Water Manipulation to slow down skeletons and push them into damage

Experience poured in already raising him to Level 6 his distributable stats piling up as he didn’t dare take his attention away from the battles going on in front of him There was just too much going on too fast

Goddamnit Thea growled next to him Where the fuck is that idiot going What if he took an arrow to the back of the head He isn’t invulnerable

She turned to him then Is he

Both looked at each other for a minute It become abruptly apparent to Simon that Thea was much much younger than he had initially assumed probably for the same reason that he had at first thought she was stocky The armor on her body was thick worked leather padded with what appeared to be bear fur It gave her a burly look but the closer you were the less scary that was and the more it seemed like a 6 year old wearing a coat far too puffy for their body

Simon shook his head focusing his attention back on his Water Manipulation Better to stay focused And the incredible thing was his Skill Levels were shooting up like mad He must have gained 5 levels in the past few minutes of frantic fighting At this rate

Thea took his head shake as answer to her question and sighed Well I guess he will be fine He’s deep enough now we don’t even see him Archers Fire at will once more

David’s actions were still noticeable as the skeletons that arrived at the base of the hill were in pairs or threes disrupted from the rest of their troop some of them sporting missing limbs that had been smashed aside as David charged forward

The hill defenders had done well enough thus far to keep the numbers low but more and more were making it through as the ones from the flanks which David hadn’t thinned out arrived at the front filling in for the destroyed skeletons

Firing frantically the archers continued to whittle them away to almost nothing but more and more skeletons were coming staggering up the hill Their strange bodies enabled them to ignore the steepness and begin climbing directly up without using the staircase

The steepness then became a problem for the defenders because pressed to the hill as they were while climbing the target they had to attack was much smaller

Still there seemed to be several archers among the people of Star Crossing that were accurate enough to keep the danger to a minimum

His chest heaving Simon fell back on his ass His hands were numb his legs were trembling his vision was blurring He cursed himself He had used up almost all of his Mana without even noticing Water Manipulation became more difficult the farther away you were leading to a rapid drain while he used it in the fight But still

Simon closed his eyes Maybe he could be useful in other ways

Astral Projection didn’t seem to require Mana or Stamina but just his focus and will With his body weakened already there really was no point to stay here and worry Besides he would be protected by Thea and Chrysanthemum

It was a strange feeling separating his consciousness from his body but it was freeing Although it did have the unfortunate side effect of forcing Simon to look at himself but

Quickly turning away from the sight of his own eyes rolling up into the back of his head Simon floated forward slowly at first but gaining speed as his will spread outwards There was a limit to his range Simon knew based on that strange feeling in the back of his head A growing weakness that would at some point cut him off

But Simon was too afraid to test the limit After all it was one thing if stretching that far snapped him back to his body But if the weakness meant that the connection just was severed and he was just a spirit while his body wasted away

Putting that out of his mind Simon rushed forward It was pretty easy to follow David’s trail There were dozens of shattered skeletons And then hundreds

Honestly Simon wasn’t sure which was more intimidating that there were this many skeletons or that fully ? of the thousands strong army appeared to have been culled by David as he passed through

The speed was pretty scary too but even the fastest sprinter couldn’t rival a spirit and Simon could begin to see the signs of fighting ahead As it seemed he still had a lot of soul tether remaining Simon continued on

And stopped dead likely for the same reason that David was hesitating slightly when faced with what he found At the back of a large group there was a skeleton that was clearly controlling the others a creepy looking thing with long arms and legs and yellow eyes That head of its pulsed with strange power waves spreading out from it and dissipating in the air in a strange way

As Simon watched the long arm thing stretched to its full height of about 4 meters and pointed towards David The ground around him wriggled and skeletons began to climb up skeletons with weapons and darker bones than Simon had seen in the past

Yet still David hesitated because standing between him and the skeleton were people People holding up pikes warding him off seemingly just as surprised as he was that they encountered each other Beyond those guards were several carriages and a larger group of people who appeared to be non combat related all staring at the new arrival

David said something quietly and Simon had to strain to catch it

I have to kill that

The man at the lead of the group of 10 guards gave his fellows a glance then shook his head sadly Let it go kid the Skeleton Knight is gonna win this war This is just one Reanimator of many Just pledge to

But David was done listening and moved his body blurring reaching an even higher level of speed slipping through the pikes around the long shafts knocking two guards aside and charging forward

It was so fast that no one could even react This was just

A different level

The head guard swore Fucking Christ another monster Vandal Slow him down

A slim boy no older than Simon himself stepped forward out from behind the Reanimator skeleton He had pale straw colored hair and tiny beady eyes But what really drew the eyes was his mouth which seemed to stretch far far longer than a mouth had a right to The ends of that mouth curled up

As David continued to rush forward the boy removed something from his belt and popped it into his mouth

Chapter 298

Drake Graft shifted his hand position on his halberd trying to choose his next words very carefully Let it go kid the Skeleton Knight is gonna win this war This is just one Reanimator of many Just pledge to

But the young man started moving in the middle of his statement and moving with such speed that he was past him and his men before he could even blink That level of speed at least 100 Agility

Drake felt a sinking in his chest as he swore He KNEW when Sydney had assigned them to help the Skeleton Knight’s forces that something was going to go wrong She had been too understanding too warm in ways that he had never really seen before The absolutely glacier aura she exuded seemed to have thawed somewhat

Originally Drake had thought it was because some of the stresses of protecting their Newbie Village had fallen away when she finally decided to agree and allow their group to pledge to the Skeleton Knight But now

Had she just been aware how difficult this trip would be and had been manipulating him A scary thought and one that rang too true to be ignored

But that was for later Regardless of whether he had been set up he had a job and he meant to complete it However Drake knew his own strengths and stopping this man Fucking Christ another monster Vandal slow him down

It seemed that Vandal had already noticed the situation because there was no hesitation in stepping forward interposing himself between the Reanimator and the black haired young man All of the usual playful laziness was gone and now there was just a strange glee in Vandal’s eyes

Drake’s heart sank If that idiot went into one of his battle manias now He was just as liable to destroy the Reanimator himself in a fit of rage

As the human blur continued to advance Vandal raised one of his culinary creations to his mouth and slipped it in His jaw worked softly seeming to tease the meat His smile widened

The blur arrived curving to avoid Vandal right at the same moment Vandal transformed the monster flesh he cooked and consumed shaping his body in that image Basically where there was once a small boy there was now a towering were panther pouncing at the blur smashing it aside

The two tumbled sideways the force of the pounce so high that they careened into a nearby carriage demolishing it somewhat In an instant Vandal was back on his feet lashing out with his claws but to Drake’s horror the black haired man was on his feet even faster

With almost comical ease the man avoided Vandal’s slash then he stepped forward and punched Vandal in the diaphragm Wheezing Vandal collapsed instantly scrambling to get back to his feet Drake winced

He honestly wasn’t surprised Vandal’s cooking could let him reshape his body giving him boosts to any stats he wanted to focus on for that dish The only problem was that Vandal had no instincts from that species and his ability to fight was clumsy at best Vandal had always been dismissive of Drake raising just these concerns stating that it was more than enough to rely on his superior stats but

What if you fought an opponent who rivaled your stat total

Honestly HOW did this fucker rival Vandal in speed

The blur resolved itself into the young man once more taking a second to pause and look down at Vandal and this time Drake gave him a much more searching glance activating his sensory skills to the max He was a little under 2 meters tall with black hair down to his jaw His body was wiry and athletic the kind of man that a year ago Drake would have assumed worked out everyday but now he would say that he was some Newbie Village’s ace monster hunter

But of everything it was his eyes that Drake caught and couldn’t let go of They were bright emerald almost burning with intensity It was a piercing gaze that hid a will that left Drake shaken

Who the fuck was this guy

From the portion of the carriage that wasn’t destroyed there was a soft noise and the man turned but not before a blast of purple blackness hit him in the gut throwing him across the clearing From the ruins of the carriage a figure stepped outward clothed in a tall robe Drake involuntarily stiffened Although he understood what had happened to him it was still a bit disconcerting to see

The bony hand of the skeleton mage still pointed towards the black haired man who had smashed into a tree trunk with the force of the blast The hood fell away revealing a skull

Thanks Copper good thing you were there Vandal growled still in Werepanther form standing slowly

The skeleton waggled a finger at the monster in front of him What do you mean good thing Are you saying you just almost killed me by accident

Well Vandal began but Drake cut him off striding forward

How hard did you hit him Coppernicus How long will he be down

The skeleton scratched his head looking at the toppling tree and the smoking body Probably way too hard But the way he fucking moved Anyways probably we have at least 5 minutes of unconsciousness and 5 more minutes of afflicted weakness after that unless

The black hair young man stood smoothly Then he casually cracked his neck looking at the three of them Coppernicus froze and Vandal involuntarily took a step back Drake just raised his halberd and hurried forward aiming to join the other two but he was far far too slow

unless he has a Resistance over 50 in which case

The young man rushed forward this time aiming for Coppernicus who seemed to realize what was going on and drew several strange runes in the air in a single breath For all that Coppernicus’ fate had cursed him with this body it had also given him some advantages including his general resistance to fatigue fear and his quick reactions

Those curses formed and flew forward The young man made to avoid them but they homed in landing on his body glowing brightly purple Flaring brightly the curses immediately went to work slowing and weakening the young man

He’s going to Coppernicus shouted but it was too late the curses flared bright then shattered broken within two seconds

Luckily Vandal moved much more quickly than Drake did and had arrived at the young man slashing once more with his claws What happened next Drake more heard than saw as several pops and cracks reached Drake’s ears and suddenly Vandal was on the ground completely still

Drake blinked slowly the mental movie replaying the scene in his mind

The young man had deftly caught the strike from Vandal and then twisted his arm as if he was dealing with a child He punched Vandal’s right shoulder knocking it out of its socket then smashed his palm into Vandal’s sensitive feline nose As Vandal reeled back in pain the young man unleashed a low kick hitting the side of Vandal’s knee and making it bend sideways

Finally the young man reached up grabbed Vandal’s head and brought it down to meet his knee The teen fell boneless to the ground Surprising himself more than anyone else Drake felt a sharp pang of fear Vandal was one of the only ones who could make Sydney smile If he died

But the young man was moving past him now and Coppernicus sent an even thicker swarm of curses his way These the young man didn’t even avoid but allowed to hit his arm and to his surprise stopped and studied them briefly

Then the young man turned to Coppernicus You are a person It was a statement not a question This seemed to confuse the young man which was the first time that Drake had felt some sympathy for him Even Drake who had been there at the beginning when it happened was still slightly confused as to what Coppernicus really was What he had become

But then the young man shrugged and flexed his hand The curses flared brightly and then popped Then he turned to walk away

Panting with the effort Drake arrived by Coppernicus’ side right as the opponent seemed to leave The two stared at his back both very confused

Who Coppernicus began but then he shook his head and walked over to Vandal who was shifting back into his human form Luckily the worst of the damage sort of just seemed to fade as he shifted back and after a few seconds Vandal sat up burping lightly With bright eyes he looked at the departing back

Hmph I knew we could win Vandal declared That asshole wasn’t so tough

The young man paused and then turned around All three of them tensed Some of Drake’s men were near the young man halberds raised but he gave the order to stand down If that guy could handle Vandal in a split second a normal person even one with a Class would be absolutely useless

Then the young man pointed and all three raised their arms in defense With his usual quick reactions Coppernicus summoned a shield of darkness between them and the assailant hoping to blunt the worst of the damage

Nothing happened The young man turned and continued to walk away The three blinked and exchanged a glance Then they all jumped as three flaming hammers the size of mopeds crashed down one destroying the long legs of the Reanimator one smashing its torso and the final hammer slightly delayed annihilated its head after it fell to the ground

For several seconds there was only the sound of fire

Is it too late to change sides Vandal muttered I thought the Wild Rider was supposed to start off weak

That wasn’t a Champion and he wasn’t even pledged Coppernicus said his voice even without vocal cords thick with fear That was just a guy

No one had anything to say to that

Chapter 299

Simon’s spirit body flew much more quickly than David’s physical one and he quickly sat up David killed the spawner

Thea gave him a look seeming to size up whether to believe him But then she slowly nodded That explains a lot They’ve become much more disorganized in the past few minutes But it’s just that

Thea gestured Simon’s eyes went wide Perhaps he should have guessed based on the amount of skeletons that he flew over in his spirit body but there were just far far too many skeletons below More and more skeletons climbed over the shattered bodies of their comrades which formed ramps to get up to the defenders

Although they didn’t march in formation like they had in the past they still moved forward a wave that extended for hundreds of meters packed densely full of skeletons Plus there were different kinds of skeletons too Mages taller ones with 4 arms skeletons with yellow bones one monstrous skeleton with black bones

It’s gonna become a scrum Thea said grimly removing a hammer from her bag Simon looked at it curious and Thea glared at him as she climbed on top of Chrysanthemum

Look I know it’s dumb but I don’t know I thought it was cool to have a name like Glasshammer and wield a hammer She said defensively It’s just ugh nevermind Just probably retreat back to the village You will be safer there Your spells are useful but they aren’t strong enough to be on the front Goodluck

With a nudge her bear roared and charged forward down the hill barrelling into their opponents before they could reach the crest of the hill and cause havoc in the lines

After watching them smash apart dozens of skeletons in a few seconds giving their best David impression Simon turned away and took several steps back towards the town But then he hesitated What was he really running from Weren’t there still things here that he could

Fluid

The voice was hoarse the word a growl Simon spun around to find David standing there his forehead scrunched up in pain It took several seconds for Simon to process this but then he snapped to attention He cast a glance over his shoulder but the skeletons were still a few dozen meters off so Simon quickly concentrated producing some fluid in a vial which he swiftly passed to David

What happened I was watching was it that darkness blast Simon asked his words running together and David gave him a look his lips twisting

No it was the curses David grunted after drinking the fluid He sighed and a lot of the tension in his face left it but not all of it There was a mental component that I didn’t notice at first When I broke them all at the end

David grimaced Activated Mental Strength when I shouldn’t have

Then his eyes seemed to snap back into focus and he spared Simon a glance It was a strange calculating glance one that made Simon feel a stab of fear Then David shook his head and produced several Mana potions Up for making some more If you can get me back in action I can defend you while you grind How close are you to 10

Only one away Why Simon asked glad to have something to focus on besides the loud sounds of the fighting He drank the potion quickly his hand trembling slightly

That was probably what he had expected the least about the fighting How much the noises would affect him How they would haunt him Sure he’d fought monsters before but never in these quantities never so many in such a close proximity it was like

It was like Simon could hear it around him the sound of life ending Even if it was weird skeleton monster life enough of them were dying around him that the small noises of it added together and became something sickly silent and deafening And that wasn’t even including the sounds of people being injured screaming sneezing begging

Simon focus David said his hand clamping down on Simon’s shoulder After getting one huge tremor out of his body he continued to focus refining more fluid which David quickly consumed His expression had eased a lot which made some of the tightness in Simon’s chest disappear Even if Simon couldn’t affect the battlefield at large this man could

And Simon could help this man Therefore Simon was helping them all That feeling Simon supposed it was how doctors felt all the time treating athletes politicians mothers leaders but it was a very warm one and it focused Simon’s mind He might be out of his depth but he wasn’t powerless here Because of Simon David could save someone like that kid on the street even though Simon didn’t have that power

Straightening David stood and walked to the edge of the hill Several skeletons were skittering upwards their hips bent at weird angles so they could move in a strange bug like fashion He crushed them instantly his eyes sweeping side to side

With a point of the finger David called down three more flaming hammers which hit the densest clusters of skeletons that were approaching the top of the hill But really it was just a drop in the bucket

Simon David spoke again shocking Simon It really was weird after being with the man when he was silent to hear him speak He had a good voice too for speaking low and strangely urgent It demanded attention I’ll protect your body Use the Astral Projection to scan around for the places where people are in trouble If with your senses and my speed

Already understanding Simon nodded furiously and activated his skill His body collapsed awkwardly making a loud thump as it fell Simon winced He hoped he wouldn’t feel that when he returned but somehow he knew he would But for now that all fell away Because for the moment

Simon felt like a hero

Randidly stood above the boy’s bed his arms crossed The pain of activating his skills earlier was gone but he was still slightly skittish about it Mental Strength was absolutely studded with shards of Aether and it had cost him dearly to use especially flaring it up so much at once

In other more positive news his access to menus was starting to come back It also gave Randidly some insight into what that black potion he was given in the past actually did

The problem was that the status screen and menus was something provided by the ambient Aether of the System as it seeped into the world Which was fine at first and most of the time it was later reinforced by the connection to the village giving you access to the information at the System’s disposal

But when his skill had been shattered Randidly’s soul space had been filled with wild damaged ambient Aether effectively numbing his sensitivity to the ambient Aether of the world Only now after most of the Aether was controlled and the real problem was the shrapnel did the calm Aether allow signals from the world back in

It was still fuzzy but at this rate in a few days he would be back up to full usability Which was a good thing too because once he had access to his status screen and soulscape he could address the elephant inside of his body Lucretia

Sighing Randidly rubbed his brow One problem at a time And perhaps the hastily created seal he had made on her in his soulskill will end up having worked much more effectively than he had expected

Like hell Randidly muttered a real headache coming on But then he focused on the boy in front of him With Simon’s help Randidly was able to keep the casualties in the fighting down to single digits He had however made it clear that he was on an absolute different level than everyone else

Again a problem for later and one that Randidly couldn’t really see being a short term issue just a long term one Still for the moment what Randidly was most concerned with was Simon

He had overexerted himself but Randidly couldn’t really be bothered about that Although he knew it objectively was happening he couldn’t avoid adopting Shal’s callous rejection of any acknowledgement of weakness He just kept pushing them

No what bothered Randidly now was the skill that Simon had obtained Astral Manifestation An ability to create an avatar to interact physically with the world while in an Astral Projection state Randidly sighed Which increased Simon’s ability to fight especially with his fear but

It set him once more on a path that Randidly feared would break his innocence

As someone on that path it was something of a point of pride that he had guided Simon elsewhere But this world this System

Sighing Randidly leaned back and looked at the sky The stars seemed so close so vivid and bright An early result of the lack of pollution for 8 months

This System had changed Randidly for the better in a lot of ways Although murdering someone was something that Randidly now contemplated rather casually he still felt balanced in control now But something in his heart told Randidly that Simon could not make that same transition And the System was forcing him forward towards it anyway

Chapter 300

Drake stood at attention his hands behind his back Sydney sat at her desk her chin in her hand as she meticulously read every word of his report

They had marched hard for a day and a half back towards the East End Village Drake driving the men ragged in order to report the failure as soon as possible It was a personal failure one that he was furious over But they had truly encountered something they could do nothing about

That man

So they had arrived only a week after they had departed and Sydney was naturally ill prepared for them She quickly dismissed the mages she was teaching more like training to use deadly combat magicks to their full effect and now sat alone with Drake reading his report word by word

It hadn’t been immediately apparent what a deliberate and intimidating move this was until Drake had experienced it multiple times Say nothing else of Sydney she was thorough And her patience and chilly malice could keep her alive even after the world had come crumbling down giving her control over a population of just over a 1000

In her own way she was a genius But for similar reasons she was dangerous Still Drake owed her and she had sworn to protect the city as its leader For now she had stayed true and the seeds of loyalty were firmly in his heart even with the possibility of this most recent manipulation

Sydney looked up Her hair which had been dyed when they met had been allowed to grow in natural with the fake parts trimmed off a dark brown Her eyes though were pale amber in an almost bloodless face She was lovely and knew how to use that to her advantage And based on the bored and serious expression on her face she was currently making no effort to leverage her attractiveness on him

Which made him relieved and respect her more She was younger even than his own daughter for her to try and use sex to control him would be insulting And she knew it and therefore she did not do it

Perhaps that should give him pause but Drake didn’t mind her pragmatism It too made him admire her

A dark haired man blew through a squad of your men overpowered Vandal in seconds and shrugged off Copper’s spells He destroyed the Reanimator gifted to us by the Skeleton Knight and walked away She repeated it aloud Drake almost flushed but said nothing There was nothing he could say

Sydney clicked her tongue Then she looked pointedly at the door After a moment it swung open revealing the tall skeleton with the flaming skull that the Skeleton Knight had positioned here as a liaison

You called The thing asked lazily striding forward

You were listening What do you make of this You told us the Wild Rider was weak Her words were sharp and short her eyes narrowed Drake felt his tension increase drawing his posture even more straight

Sydney was sniffing around for a betrayal which was understandable but if Drake could talk to her he would say that didn’t make sense But then again based on how she was acting she probably knew that and was acting annoyed and paranoid to make the Skeleton Knight’s representative think she was less perceptive than she was which might be useful down the line

It was above his pay grade And pointless in his opinion But everyone who he had ever served under in the military had done similar things and it was the ones who were the best at it that stayed above Drake the longest

And although she was young Sydney was the most impressive general Drake had ever seen

The skeleton shrugged giving Drake a look Are you sure your foot soldier isn’t exaggerating

I haven’t spoken to them all but I’ve spoken to the three primary fighters They all agree If anything Drake is downplaying it Sydney said taking the papers off her desk and throwing them into the fire Drake suspected that she had obtained a memory skill because there was no way she would so casually destroy evidence as thoroughly as she did

And even so it was a double edged sword If something happened to her a replacement without her wide base of knowledge would be inept at best

It seems impossible The skeleton said after a minute of thought There are ways to get that strong in a short amount of time but they require a lot of resources that shouldn’t be available in this world yet If what they say is true even I would be annoyed trying to kill that guy The System just got here it’s not possible Perhaps it came across from another world There is a portal in Donnyton yes

It is widely reported that those from the other side are strong but have animal features Sydney said lightly walking over to the window but a possibility I suppose

The Skeleton Knight has given you all the resources he will give to accomplish your task The skeleton announced its flaming jaw clacking He does not appreciate being disappointed

I don’t disappoint Sydney said softly then she turned to the skeleton Then I’m glad you understand Drake replace anyone who is spooked or injured and leave again in the morning Before was shock and awe now go more snatch and grab

Sydney turned on her heel and walked to the side door which led to her chambers

But ma’am if we run into that man again Drake began but Sydney shook her head

Don’t worry Iznock will handle it She said pointing to the flaming skeleton He will be leaving with you in the morning Good evening gentlemen

The door closed with a soft click

Thea stood before the board of directors once more once again talking about a similar subject but the focus was now very very different

Reports indicate that he was virtually invulnerable to all attacks from the skeletons He could destroy them with a single punch He could call flaming hammers down from the sky shattering groups Andre said calmly Is this accurate

Thea could only shrug helplessly As far as I can tell yes Simon his companion also reports that he turned the tide of the battle by killing this Reanimator monster cutting off most of their forces and making sure no more were created

And his intercession saved countless lives Cale said the sarcasm in his voice thick Denise coughed into her hand giving him a look causing the other man to roll his eyes and raise his hands

Thea frowned They were taking this much differently than she had expected them to

Sir I think that establishing good relations with these two will pay dividends down the line for our Village

Andre nodded slowly sharing a glance with the other two board members It certainly appears that way doesn’t it

Sir what are you saying Thea asked slowly

Denise sighed It’s likely true that he’s a powerful mage of some sort But all of it together the spells the physical strength and speed killing the enemy leader while only his companion is watching David is a fiction Even with the System here magic’ just doesn’t mean anything is possible A strength this substantial it takes time

It’s much more likely Cale said almost whispering That our dear friends David and Simon were planted here to save the day and keep us from getting a bloody nose in the first battle so they can serve us up to the Skeleton Knight on a silver platter later

I’m dubious Andre said raising his hands at Thea’s darkening expression Especially about how they could coordinate with so many skeletons to have them die as David struck them But Thea which is more believable That a man who is so strong it puts him on the level of Champions shows up or that this was a ploy to earn our trust Even if he was that powerful in one aspect how can he be miles ahead of our people in every stat

Thea opened her mouth and then she closed it To that question She could find no answer

Chapter 301

In his dream Randidly was in his bed struggling against the darkness The ticking was eternal a constant companion the slow passage of time His sheets were heavy like lead all of the strength he had gained from the System swept away leaving him with only his weak human body

His hands felt thin and frail trembling as he tried to wrestle with the covers The soft silk eluded his clumsy fingers sliding away

Tick Tick Tick

In front of the bed Lyra sat her legs crossed regarding him closely But it was not Lyra it was just the Creature wearing her face like a trendy scarf Although there was a small smile on Lyra’s face the eyes behind the mask were dead and alien considering

I could kill you at anytime The creature whispered You are weak You cannot escape But this is what I want For you to come to me on your own begging Give me control I’ll save you I’ll fix everything I’ll

Tick

And then the ticking stopped Randidly straightened his eyes blazing emerald dragging up the strength to overcome the covers from the depths of himself

Fuck He breathed in and then breathed out You

But the creature just laughed because this is exactly what she wanted the whole time

Randidly’s eyes snapped open his dream interrupted by a pounding headache a vicious pain at his very soul He winced as he sat up deactivating Mental Strength Mental Fortitude and Torment which had all come active in the dream In fact the dream might even have been caused by Torment He still didn’t have a great read on what that skill did

It was disturbing though for other reasons Randidly didn’t sleep much but now he vowed to sleep even less what if he activated Agony while asleep Or Circle of Flame The damage

He shook his head putting it out of his mind as he grabbed some of the Mending Fluid that Simon had prepared yesterday drinking it all down Then Randidly sighed and focused his attention inward and began the arduous process of removing shrapnel from his skills

About an hour later he relaxed and chided himself for drinking all of the potion at once He would need to go find Simon to rid himself of the aftereffects of the headache But it was quite a bit less severe than usual

He had managed to free up Empower Dodge Block and Calculated Blow this time in terms of combat abilities Those final three were most of the reason that Randidly had to experience constant pain while fighting he couldn’t avoid triggering Dodge and Calculated Blow and there were times that Blocking was just instinct

Empower would enable him to take another step towards having the same instantaneous power he had before his injury if not the same Endurance He also freed up Mana Bolt which was almost amusing to imagine him using it again after so long Still it was much less Mana intensive and would be effective against this level of opponents

The other great bonus was that his status screen was finally back most of the chaotic Aether remnants cleared in this round of healing At this rate Randidly would be back to full power in a week or two at which point he would be forced to make some decisions on what to do So for now gathering information was what was most important

Engraving too had been cleared which would give him something to do in his downtime Randidly’s only real worry now was overuse Because yesterday during the fighting he noticed that when the pain grew to a certain point it created a feedback loop

As he discovered previously the problem was activating skills with shrapnel present created a vibration back through the shattered fragments which caused the damaged skill area to resonate causing the pain However at a certain point the vibrations at the damaged point became enough that the wound itself began to vibrate exacerbating the pain And due to its connection to all the pieces everything started to vibrate

It was a scary thought but if Randidly pushed too far he suspected that everything would vibrate out of control driving him to the point where all of his skills with shrapnel were shattered effectively destroying himself Which was probably why the Village Spirit believed he would die in the future

Small blessings that Simon’s fluid calmed it down somehow

Randidly flexed his hands The headache was annoying but he had grown used to worse So for the first time in the last several weeks Randidly opened his Path screen slightly excited to see what he had gained

The results did not disappoint Randidly had gained 6 Skill Levels in the Spear Advances Ash Trails 9 in the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil 12 in Second Wind 13 in Bacterial Regeneration 6 in Stalemate Breaker 5 in Phantom’s Embrace 5 in Empower and Haste 15 in Fighting Proficiency 9 in Spear Mastery 7 in Spearing Roots 13 in Mental Strength a staggering 20 in Mental Fortitude 9 in Pain Resistance 5 in Hammer of the Dawn and Dodge 3 in Block and Calculated Blow 6 in Meditation and Flesh Eating Virus 9 in Battle Intent and Struggle 10 in Superiority 6 in Grace and Flexibility of the White Hunters and 8 in Living Blood

In addition Randidly had two other things of note The first was he had gained the skill Talon Strike which Randidly supposed was what the System considered him to have used to strike the skeletons the previous day and gained 13 Skill Levels And also there were several levels in a skill that just appeared to be gibberish to him which he assumed to be his broken skill Randidly sighed

Still it was a huge amount of PP totalling 223 Which was a tempting haul that would make a huge dent in the strange Path he had chosen the Ash of Aemont the Spear Phantom But

Randidly was hesitant whether to use it This was for two reasons The first was that he didn’t want to advance his Soul Skill before he understood the state of it He supposed he could put his senses in there now but he was afraid of meeting Lucretia before he was ready especially in terms of Mental Strength and Fortitude as well as Battle Intent which were all lousy with with Aether shards

The second reason was related to his weakness but came from a different source This was a path from the Patron of Ash and Randidly just wasn’t in the shape to handle it if there were some sort of ridiculous tests that he so often used

This weakness was incredibly frustrating but then Randidly smiled his expression wry Although he was much weaker than usual it was changing slowly And his weakness compared to everyone else’s

It was incomparable Slightly amused and feeling better Randidly looked at his Status

Health(/R per hour) 1764/1764 (+118) (716 (+27

Mana(/R per hour) 1700/1709 (+5) (222 (+9

Stam(/R per min) 1623/1758 (255 (+9

Vit 187 (+9)

End 98

Str 135 (+17)

Agi 176 (+17)

Perception 153 (+10)

Reaction 164

Resistance 128 (+15)

Willpower 215 (+10)

Wisdom 88 (+9)

Control 247

Focus 188 (+4)

PP 223

Skills (Soul Skill) Four Shaded Clockwork World Lvl 766

Combat Spear Mastery Lvl 138 White Phantom’s Half Step (Un) Lvl 50 Heavy Blow Lvl 70 Dagger Mastery Lvl 10 Iron Skin Lvl 47 Dodge Lvl 78 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 113 Block Lvl 54 Haste Lvl 89 Phantom Onslaught Lvl 43 Sweep Lvl 54 Spear Deflect Lvl 10 Empower Lvl 108 Calculated Blow Lvl 69 Roundhouse Kick Lvl 36 Flesh Eating Virus (Un) Lvl 63 Idiosyncratic Cut (Un) Lvl 69 Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth Lvl 39 Battle Intent Lvl 133 Struggle Lvl 9 Body Control Freeze Lvl 25 The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil Lvl 74 Stalemate Breaker Lvl 25 Talon Strike Lvl 14

The 7 Kata of the Ashen Spear The Spear Advances Ash Trails Lvl 51 As the Sun Stills ® Lvl 1

The 6 Signs of the Spear Phantom ® The First Sign The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 85 (Un) The Fifth Sign The Spear Phantom’s Embrace ® Lvl 160

Spells Spearing Roots Lvl 48 Mana Bolt Lvl 28 Mana Shield Lvl 26 Root Control Lvl 99 Arcane Orb Lvl 22 Fireball Lvl 30 Magic Missile Lvl 4 Healing Palm Lvl 12 Pollen of the Rafflesia Lvl 20 Summon Pestilence Lvl 53 Mana Strengthening Lvl 65 Wall of Thorns Lvl 19 Soul Seed ® Anguish (Un) Lvl 59 Inspiration ® Incinerating Bolt Lvl 73 Circle of Flame Lvl 45 Plantomancy Lvl 35 The Weeping Cloud ® Lvl 64 Hammer of the Dawn Lvl 11 Burning Footsteps Lvl 10 Ashes to Ashes Lvl 22 Torment Lvl 4

Crafting Potion Making Lvl 37 Farming Lvl 20 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Mapmaker Lvl 7 Analyze Lvl 24 Refine Lvl 17 Extract Lvl 23 Mana Engraving Lvl 74

Auxiliary Physical Fitness Lvl 89 Meditation Lvl 93 Running Lvl 39 Sprinting Lvl 19 Sneak Lvl 46 Acid Resistance Lvl 22 Poison Resistance Lvl 21 Pain Resistance Lvl 41 First Aid Lvl 16 Equip Lvl 25 Pathfinding Lvl 18 Mental Strength Lvl 44 Curse Resistance Lvl 15 Fire Resistance Lvl 23 Sewing Lvl 11 Cutting Vegetables Lvl 2 Manual Labor Lvl 6 Digging Lvl 5 Cooking Lvl 35 Grace Lvl 65 Bacterial Regeneration Lvl 116 Superiority Lvl 56 Mental Fortitude Lvl 76 Second Wind Lvl 71 Weather Affinity Lvl 43 Clockwork Mastery Lvl 16 Rejection Lvl 42 Aether Connection Lvl 3 Flexibility of the White Hunters ® Lvl 44 Living Blood (Un) Lvl 42

Shaking his head Randidly pulled out one of the Engraving encyclopedias Patience was annoying

Chapter 302

Simon frowned You want us to head south and east looking for the Wild Hunter Isn’t he more to the North

Thea shook her head her lips pressed into a thin line as she loaded bags onto Chrysanthemum’s back The bear laid still seeming to be as tense with the whole situation as her soulbound companion was No we believe that the movements of the East End Village and the Skeleton Knight will have driven them away from their usual spot Our scouts reported rapid movement and we are trying to keep track of them as best we can The three of us will head Southwest circling around the Dungeon before curving back North before The Refuge If we haven’t found anything we will stop in there Hopefully the East End Village moving with make that asshole commit to a side in the Champion’s battle

Simon’s frown deepend Dauntless does as best he can That group

Yes yes I understand their population is a bit unique His struggles are his own Thea interrupted clearly annoyed But that doesn’t justify turning it into a whole tribal barbarian thing

Glancing to the side Simon took in David who was still slowly savoring more of the Mending Fluid had had provided for him He seemed rather unconcerned with conversation but focused instead on the bear watching its side rise and fall

Well my real problem is what we are doing is dumb and Simon began but Thea whirled to face him

We were given orders Although its preliminary you received a class from Star Crossing That comes with certain responsibilities Thea said with a glare Even when you dislike your orders even when you think they are foolish and misguided you obey them Or you leave Make your choice

As she stomped away Chrysanthemum standing beside her a low voice interjected

Thea

She spun around her eyes bright and dangerous What Are you going to be a little bitch too

David’s face remained impassive although his mouth twitched He pointed to Chrysanthemum You tied the straps wrong It’s gonna wear through the leather like that

Simon covered his face with his hands trying his best not to laugh Thea’s face went white and then red and then she hurried over to Chrysanthemum to correct the issue David just turned away looking at the horizon a small frown on his face

thanks Thea said awkwardly and without a word the three of them departed

Simon froze his eyes glued to the large komodo dragon type creature that was making its way across the meadow They had been traveling slowly through the countryside searching for four days although from how bored Thea seemed it wasn’t like they were searching at all

At any rate these past few days the variety and the strength of monsters in the surrounding area abruptly increased The most impressive of which was this Komodo dragon the size of a compact car Level 28 an absolutely fearsome foe

Noticing where his gaze went Thea gestured Simon over towards her Chrysanthemum crouched down remaining silent David seemed completely unphased stepping so quietly that Simon didn’t even notice him when his gaze was away from the man Compared to that Simon felt like a drunk bison just stumbling over every tree branch

This Thea seemed worried That monster likely won’t attack It’s one of the species that I’ve seen around the Wild Rider I had no idea that they extended this far South

Isn’t that a good thing That means we might actually find the Wild Rider Simon said excitedly even as he looked at the beast and couldn’t ever imagine defeating it But if he used his imagination he could imagine him up there on his back riding him Having a lizard mount wouldn’t be bad He wondered if there was some sort breath attack that it could use

Well yea Thea said lamely motioning for them to turn away and head in a different direction Almost as if it sensed the movement the lizard perked up turning its head to look directly at them Even Chrysanthemum seemed to crouch lower to the ground afraid of attracting its attention

It flicked its tongue out lazily staring at them As it did so around 5 smaller lizards skittered around it coming out from behind its large body to look These were only the size of a large dog and Lvl 12 but they were clearly of the same species Children

David slowly unfolded his arms and lowered his hands to his sides His hands were twisted into sharp claws

Seemingly bored the komodo dragon turned and walked away leading its young ins The group visibly relaxed

It’s strange though I haven’t seen mounts that powerful yet Thea muttered after the komodo dragon had walked away The highest I have seen is Lvl 20 maybe

But then she fell silent shaking her head before saying We should stop for the night get some rest I don’t think we will find anything else

A system message appeared interrupting her speech

Warning As you have entered within a certain range you have detected that a Tier III Raid Boss has spawned nearby in the last 24 hours Upon visual confirmation of its body a notification will be displayed to the entire Zone as to its approximate location As you are the first to discover this Raid Boss damage to the boss and its spawn increased by 5% for the next week Experience and skill proficiency gains against the boss and its spawn increased by 10% for the next week

Fuck shit cunt and of course this would happen NOW Thea swore fuming

Simon looked around at both of the people around him whose faces had turned serious and said timidly So what exactly How powerful are the Tier III Raid Bosses

Thea grimly stared at the ground for several seconds before answering and even when she did she seemed extremely distracted They well we don’t really know But we know that it took 3 weeks of Donnyton and Franksburg working together in order to locate it and another week and a half to bring it down

As Simon opened his mouth again she cut him off as if she already knew what he was going to ask Franksburg has a population that rivals all three of the Northern Villages Donnyton appears to have much less but still more than any one of us because it was the first village to form And in terms of firepower

She gave him a level look they are currently fighting toe to toe with the Skeleton Knight According to our information the skeleton army has dozens of those Reanimator skeletons and we’ve just seen the one Which might have destroyed us if not for your friend here

Even David seemed concerned frowning slightly The group lapsed back into tense silence as Thea seemed to be wrestling with something internally And whatever it was it was huge It probably related to what they should do now

They had huge bonuses Simon supposed relating to chasing down the boss but there would be costs too Mostly danger And they would be giving up their mission of chasing the Wild Rider right after they obtained evidence that he was nearby Thea was probably torn by her sense of duty to figure out which was more important for the village

Explains why the creatures are stronger David rumbled suddenly The Tier III Raid Boss

Is after the Wild Rider Thea whispered and she turned to look at David her eyes narrowed David didn’t see it because he was peering forward away from her but Simon saw how wide and haunted Thea’s eyes were in that moment She was scared and fearful and there was a weird glimmer of betrayal hidden in the depths of her eyes

People will die David continued making his stance on what they should do clear Simon in spite of his fear found his spine straightening He heard how quickly the Raid Bosses propagate and produce minions who grew stronger along with it And Tier 3 Raid Bosses started at Lvl 30

Abruptly Simon wondered what he was doing How could he hope to rival a Lvl 30 existence

But Thea had made her decision Eyes bright she nodded Let’s hunt ourselves a Raid Boss

Chapter 303

Drake looked at Iznock Even though his head was a flaming skull the expression of annoyance was clear on his face

We were misled Vandal said sighing After turning away the young boy rummaged in his pockets and removed several small pieces of meat and tossed them into his mouth Instantly his expression turned blissful

Drake’s hackles raised but he hid it well Vandal harvested the flesh of those he defeated monsters or men and used it to cook varying dishes When consuming those foods his body would be transformed taking on some of the strength of whatever he was eating There was even a rumor that he was experimenting with combining different monsters finding more and more power

It was an intimidating thought the way he could increase his power and after seeing Vandal defeated Drake had a lot less patience for the boy Even as Drake watched Vandal’s body shifted slightly his arms growing longer the hair around his face going wild

Luckily it didn’t appear to be the type of creature that would have emotional instability but considering Vandal’s temperament It was very frustrating dealing with such unreliable pieces around him Following orders became that much harder And all of the responsibility lay on Drake’s shoulders to keep the men in line

Coppernicus looked around at the plains in front of them tapping his jaw It was clear that at one point there had been some sort of grand tent set up here The tracks of hundreds of monsters was in the area and piles of manure several days old The hangers on of the Wild Rider following their master’s free spirited wanderings

Finally Coppernicus spoke If it isn’t here where is the Wild Rider

Iznock just grunted raising his hand A giant axe made of black rippling energy formed Then with a series of sharp blows Iznock began to scar the landscape tearing wide swaths of the ground up destroying all of the remnants

And people say I have anger problems Vandal said giving Drake a look

Drake ignored it In this case he agreed with Iznock’s sentiment even if it was inefficient Others would be looking for the Wild Hunter if it truly had moved To send the message that the move had been done out of fear most would naturally make the connection to the servants of the Skeleton Knight

Sewing fear confusion and panic among those out here fawning after the Wild Rider was for the best It would get the civilians scared enough to stop throwing themselves in danger’s way

Both of his hands moving through several strange positions runes forming in the air then falling to the ground around him in a circle Vandal continued to give Drake sharp looks but the two of them stayed silent while Iznock destroyed and Coppernicus cast his spell

The runes on the ground flared brightly and Coppernicus turned to look

Southwest He said softly but he was frowning But there is something else there something dangerous

Iznock straightened the huge axe dissipating Then what are we waiting for Let’s go kill it

Randidly moved quickly delighting in his now healed Empower and Physical Fitness which he had struggled all day to get it down to a single piece of Aether embedded in it It wasn’t ideal but the pain was manageable Thea remained behind with Simon but would be ready to rush forward if they finally found the enemy It was annoying but while they were under the effects of the bonuses none of them were able to contact others through the System

They were on their own Which wasn’t exactly true because they had come across human tracks a group that appeared to be between 4 and 10 people patrolling likely from the Refuge

Then they had found the blood

Due to the danger of victims Randidly ran ahead his eyes blazing Perhaps there was a bit of guilt to this but Randidly felt profoundly motivated to hunt down and kill this Raid Boss especially as he was absent while the other one assaulted Donnyton and the surrounding area

A small bird badly shaped almost warped to the point that it was nowhere near being flight worthy formed in the air beside Randidly It moved quickly flapping its wings as just a habit while moving with impossible speed

It opened its mouth and spoke I can’t get a good sight on them but there is definitely something moving in that quarry to your west They look small so watch for ambushes

Randidly remained silent Honestly Simon’s growth was a good thing but the speed of it was insanely fast The skill level improvement was so rapid that even Randidly was impressed Some of it could be attributed to the bonus they had from chasing this Raid Boss but over the past 24 hours Simon had gone from barely being able to form anything while in his Astral form to this pseudo bird that could communicate

It didn’t seem like its combat potential was high but it was incredibly useful for guiding Randidly

When Randidly reached the quarry he paused considering He didn’t really need to because the monsters in front of him were clear skulking in the shadows of the rocks And these unlike most others that Randidly had encountered since the arrival of the System were truly monsters They had a squishy fleshy purple blob as their core and from that about a dozen limbs spread outward Some were legs somewhere feet some where scythes some were mandible insect like limbs

As Randidly arrived they all turned and he saw that each had a large eye at the center of their blob staring at him

There were about 7 and 3 fled away while 4 more rushed towards him half rolling half bounding from limbs to limbs their multifaceted bodies letting them move with surprising grace through the quarry towards him

Snorting Randidly jumped streaking towards the creatures Immediately he felt something was wrong as a headache was already beginning to form Did he accidentally activate a skill or

But then Randidly was among them lashing out with Talon Strike Their bodies didn’t really bleed when he struck them but chunks of flesh were ripped off debilitating them Within 10 seconds Randidly had torn them to pieces Those pieces quivered on the ground somewhat unwilling but Randidly moved past them intent on following the escaping ones

At the last moment Randidly sensed it and hopped ot the side One of the strange monstrosities careened past scythe flailing aimed for his neck Spinning around Randidly was surprised to find that the 4 monstrosities were completely whole once more and were rushing back towards him

Randidly growled and he moved again Talon Strikes methodically annihilating their bodies leaving not even a shred behind All the while his headache was getting worse This was not a good sign

His gaze very focused Randidly watched the destroyed bodies on the ground for several seconds When nothing happened Randidly started to back slowly away The air in front of him twisted and that queer bird formed once more

Why aren’t you finishing them off It asked its voice sounding so tiny And your attacks keep missing why

Randidly spun around moving out of the way of the scythe but he could feel the long thin trail of blood down his back Which gave Randidly paused They were able to wound him With his Endurance

The level they displayed was 26 which was powerful Randidly supposed but these monsters possessed no extremely raised skill levels like the individuals back on Shal’s world that allowed them to fight evenly with Randidly These monsters

His headache grew more intense

Cursing slightly Randidly jumped directly upward around 10 meters into the air just to buy himself some time Then he turned his attention inwardly Mental Strength and Curse Resistance were activating just slightly but it was enough to very quickly raise the pain to serious levels

Considering Simon’s statements too

Fucking illusionists He was fighting illusions

The 4 monstrosities below threw their bodies upwards towards him

Chapter 304

Randidly ripped their bodies to pieces as he fell to the ground Although they were illusions they still seemed capable of hurting him Perhaps it had something to do with a skill though that affected him mentally causing him to think he was wounded or something dumb like that

Which also didn’t make sense Why wasn’t his high Willpower or Resistance negating this

Point me to them I can’t see them Randidly growled At least Simon’s distance was convenient for this Otherwise Randidly supposed he could use Hammer of the Dawn repeatedly carpet bombing until he destroyed them but it would hard to know if he ever killed them

Without knowing what they looked like

Several arrows formed mid air pointing towards the monstrosities The arrows were wobbly but they all appeared to point towards the eyes of the monstrosities So that was their core That would make this easy

Randidly twisted avoiding a swing of the scythe limb from one of the monsters and stepped towards another using Talon Strike to strike the eye As his hand ripped into its body he felt a soft tap as he encountered something strange The monstrosity wavered and winked out leaving a thin gray little humanoid shape the size of a meerkat

It looked up at him with scared eyes and Randidly crushed its body his expression even As he did so that fear disappeared replaced by hatred and then it was nothing but mush Snorting Randidly turned to the nearest monstrosity and approached it faster than it could avoid It began to spin its limbs lashing out but Randidly’s hand accurately ripped every limb out of his way and stabbed into the eye

Randidly frowned as it continued to flail at him Rapidly the wobbly arrow moved along the monstrosity’s body Gritting his teeth Randidly tore into the monstrosity’s body until he finally found the small grey humanoid crushing its skull