Synexus looked to the sky while cradling his friend and captain is in his arms. It seemed like the world was falling on him.

  Spikes in a putrid array of colors filled the air. Even the sky appeared to get sick as they continued forward unimpeded. Raindrops of plague and death.

  None of the survivors let out a single breath as they watched their doom approaching. Each one simply stared at the impossible number of needles coming to send them to the afterlife. The storm was so dense that they couldn’t see the night sky or the cackling Ullashtt responsible for the destruction of their home.

  Synexus willed himself back into action and summoned a wall of his strongest trees. His shield took some of the storm, but the sheer amount of the spikes overpowered the forest wall. He grew another instantly only for the wave of death to snap through those too. His mana kept flowing and he threw everything he had from his Progress Garden in hopes of stopping the onslaught.

  Vines grabbed for the spikes. Trees stood like a wall. Grass blades cut them down the middle. Thick blankets of moss attempted to reduce their speed. A fence of bamboo stood in defiance as the last line of defense. So many plants grew that the crowd of people couldn’t see the storm that was still rampaging towards them. It wasn’t until the first bamboo plant snapped that they knew it wasn’t enough.

  Everyone fell to the ground in one final act of self-preservation while they awaited the inevitable impact of the plague storm. Everyone except for Synexus.

  Instead of lying flat, he stood and was determined to protect the lifeless Vorin. His lifeless friend.

  Ten feet.

  Six feet.

  The spike was so close and travelling at incredible speeds that Synexus could see a trail of decayed air behind it.

  Four feet.

  Two feet.

  Synexus started to wretch. The plague had already hit him from being as close as he was. He doubled over to spill his guts on the ground and that was the only time he took his eyes away from the spike coming to end his life. His mind raced as he was attempting to figure out what happened. At the speed it was going, it should have ended him already. Feeling and perception started to return to his cold body and he realized the gust of wind rushing past him and the dome of water that had been conjured around them. At the edge of the dome the water had turned to thick ice. Countless spikes were imbedded in the subzero layer.

  As it all came to him, he turned to see his saviors. Shell strained to hold the amount of water she was channeling. Kumo was in the air exploding with mana as her wind pushed back the storm. Snowfall and Zuls were directing the chilling wind towards the water dome. Her other bonded stood ready to defend them. All except for Element who was almost as lifeless as Vorin. Prith stood with his sword reflecting the faint moonlight staring down at their captain.

  “We have more class chosen coming to assist! A healer is among them!” Zuls yelled out.

  “Our enemy is foul. We’ve dealt our damage, but he came back stronger.” Yu reported.

  Gene flew and landed by Vorin. Their wings fluttered as they inspected the plague doctor head to toe.

  “He fell from a surprise attack from below. It happened too quickly.”

  It wasn’t the time to mourn and they knew that. Each one shook a tear from their eye and nodded at Synexus’ words.

  “Dropping water shield!” Shell yelled out in an exhausted string of words.

  The moment she did the ice shattered and melted immediately. Synexus stored all the broken plants that he used as defense into his Progress Garden. Standing on the other side was their enemy looking down at them practically vibrating with excitement.

  “I DO LOVE PLAYING WITH MY FOOD!”

  Hundreds of oozy hands shot out from the base of the creature towards the group of survivors. Everyone jumped into action.

  Another flame vortex was conjured this time without holding back for the state of the town. It ate up wood, bricks, and pieces of plagued ooze alike as the hands tried to smother the flames.

  Kumo summoned her storm and lightning started to sear through the gelatinous body. Rain slowed it down. Wind shredded through appendages. Cloud blades shot out dozens at a time to completely cut off pieces of the massive body. Chain lighting shot towards the small army of leeches that had started to emerge at the base.

  Shell went back to only worrying about providing buffs and healing. Somehow her ocarina was producing two songs at once.

  Zuls and her bonded ran at the Ullashtt with no regard for their own safety. Rage was clearly driving her. Incredibly hot flames shot from her mouth to incinerate any hands getting too close. Siz followed her lead, doing the same before summoning flaming meteors to hit the main body. The membrane started to sizzle away with each impact.

  Blight started to absorb the toxic gas spewing from the beast. Gliya melted holes through the entire body with sunbeams that almost looked solid. Snowfall began freezing large areas of the body for Hyren, Claw, and Whimper to strike at. Fort provided a shield that could only keep out a small portion of the plague out. Sovereign created duplicates of all the rest of the bonded and Zuls to keep the Ullashtt from hitting the real ones. Ghost watched over Element protectively ready to drag him away with his ethereal tentacles.

  Prith left tremendous fissures nearly cutting through the body with his blade. The hardened membrane didn’t seem like it was up to the challenge of stopping the sword master. His focus was unmatched as he dodged everything the beast threw at him.

  Synexus got to work. His hands were dripping with Vorin’s blood. His clothes would be forever stained. Still, he had a job to do as a class chosen and an avenger.

  He stood and then took off into the sky by using Body Transmutation to grow the wings of a Hydragon from his back. From high above the monster, he watched in awe at the ferocious combat capabilities of his party. With them giving their all, the beast could barely keep up, but it was still alive and they couldn’t last forever. His mind jumped into his Progress Garden to prepare for his attack.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  As his attention was split, the part paying attention to the battle saw more skills starting to hit the Ullashtt. A quick glance over and he saw the army of class chosen Zuls had promised. Without hesitation they jumped into the fight throwing anything they could at the monster. Fresh cries of pain escaped their enemy as hundreds of different attacks shredded the membrane.

  His eyes fell to Vorin, and he saw a woman desperately trying to heal him. Her hands glowed with a warm white light. He wanted to hope that she saw something he didn’t, but he was cold. There was no heartbeat. His eyes closed tightly and he focused on finishing up his most aggressive creations.

  When he was done, he simply stopped flapping his wings and he went into a dive towards the beast below.

  Wind rushed past him. Lightning strikes raced him to their mutual target. Raindrops seemed to stop midair as he matched their speed. He didn’t even blink. The moment he came into range he started placing the seeds as deep into the body of Plague as possible. He had made enough to continue placing them as he fell past the entire height of the beast. Right before he hit the ground his wings spread out and caught the wind letting him come to a rolling stop at the base of the Ullashtt. Then he smiled and pulsed his mana towards the dormant seeds.

  Explosive Shrapnel (Unique): This is plant that has taken attributes from multiple sources. The base liing plant has been altered into a volatile state. When grown the leaves become highly explosive. They have been hardened to rival that of diamond with edges sharp enough to slice through most known materials. If mana is pushed into the stalk of this plant the leaves with shoot out in all directions. Every part of the plant will then explode. Each new piece of shrapnel will continue in a chain explosion until nothing is left. If cultivated properly the leaves will make a spicy tea.

  Mana snaked its way through the monster’s body and into all the plants at the same time. Synexus barely had enough time to yell out a warning to get clear before the explosion happened.

  BOOM!

  Bright flashes hit the eyes of everyone in attendance before a sonic boom followed. Instead of one explosion that lasted for an instant, this one continued for nearly two full minutes. Each subsequent explosion was smaller than the one previous.

  When the rumbling stopped, they unshielded their eyes to take in the destruction. The body of Plague was nothing but a sea of goop on the ground. The hardened leaves had shredded through the gelatinous inner body of Plague before exploding and completely destabilizing the giant bacteria. Most of the goop was still on fire and burning brightly. Still, there was no notification.

  “He’s still alive somehow! No notification!” Everyone nodded and started to look around with full awareness of an attack.

  “THAT HURTTTT!” The disembodied voice screamed. Its decimated body started to pull together. Goop collected and started to reform. The plague aura returned shortly after.

  Each class chosen jumped back into not giving Plague the chance he needed. Spell after spell tried to destroy the remnants of the body for good only for another part to start collecting. Soon there were dozens of mini-Plague bodies. Then there were half a dozen bigger ones. Before long there was one titan standing before them once again. He was significantly smaller than the original, but it was still the Ullashtt nearly fully healed.

  “YOU CANNOT KILL DISEASE! ERADICATE!”

  The gelatinous foe exploded into a dark black cloud of pure plague. It was too fast for anyone to dodge. Instantaneous death.

  ***

  Vorin felt lost and cold. He was talking to his friends and then burning pain shot through his body in countless places. Light faded and the cold embraced him like an old friend.

  He felt loss. Sadness. Pain. Despair. All of it in an instant before the dark cradled him into a deep sleep.

  His dreams led him to his brother who was probably just starting his life as a class chosen. He had promised to meet up with him, but that would have to wait. He was too tired.

  Laiko and Layola came knocking at his door once his brother left. Layola told him it was okay. That it wasn’t too bad, and she was excited to share their adventures with each other. Laiko argued that he wasn’t ready for that yet. He said he was hoping Vorin would be waiting for him when he returned. It was funny, but Vorin couldn’t remember where he had gone. Just bickering siblings playing a prank on him.

  His parents came next with apologies and tears. He didn’t care to see them although he was confused about why his mother was crying so much. In his opinion, he should be the one in tears for what they had done to him. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to feeling anything. An indomitable emptiness was all he could sense within himself.

  A sick child came to him in tears trying to pull on the tunic that his dream self was wearing. A faint thought told him it was someone he should know. His memory was failing him, however. The boy simply fell over and Vorin found himself crying.

  Faint screams tugged at the edge of his dream. Horrendous laughter followed. A doorway revealed itself with nothing but a burning light inside. Behind him a click caught his attention and his scythes appeared stuck in the ground. Something tugged at him telling him gently to choose.

  The door promised warmth and light. Layola, his parents, his party’s healer, and the child, now healed, were waiting for him. His scythes only promised more death. More fighting. He took a step towards the door and kept going. His hand swung forward to take Layola’s until it started to rain. Salty water fell on him drenching him. It tasted foul. Plague was infecting his dream. He was a Plague Doctor. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let it get to Layola. His old friend. Or the child. No that was his duty as a class chosen.

  His feet acted before his thoughts, and he was already picking up his scythes. A notification blared through his head reminding him of something he had forgotten. His set bonus.

  Plague Set (2 of 4): For every plague cured with one of your skills while having this set equipped, gain a 1% bonus to your natural health regeneration.

  Current Bonus: 2413%

  And then a thought of his achievement flashed through his mind.

  Healer’s Leadership: You and your allies gain a 5% boost to natural health regeneration.

  An instant later his body was stitching itself back together. Dozens of injuries healing in real time. Organs started to be replaced. Skin regrown. Blood created.

  Confusion hit as he opened his eyes and only saw black. A woman with glowing hands was crying over top of him as her body started to disintegrate. Then another notification shot across his vision.

  Skill Unlocked!

  Dawn of the Plague Doctor (Legendary): A mass healing skill that will reverse a plague and eradicate it at the source in a wide area. Can only be used once every twenty-four hours and uses the entirety of your mana pool.

  He didn’t even hesitate to activate the skill.

  A blinding light radiated out from his body chasing the black cloud away. The woman above him started to heal. Even the parts of her that had turned to dust were reconstructing themselves. He felt exhausted and confused, but he stood up anyways to see what he had done.

  His white healing light chased the black cloud back towards his party members. They began to regenerate until they were whole. He continued following the light only to see the body of Plague reform. Before anyone could understand what happened, the white light burrowed into the Ullashtt and disintegrated every piece of the gelatinous body. He simply evaporated without realizing that he had been beaten.

  You and your party of slain Plague, Disgust Every Multiplying!

  Bonus experience earned.

  You have levelled up!

  You have levelled up!

  You have levelled up!

  …

  You are now level 62!

  Class Evolution available!

  Vorin smiled before collapsing back down by the healer.