“Alright, you all know what to do.” Stephen says. “Let's go give those monsters hell. Maka, you’re up first.”
I grip my dagger and stave firmly. “Yep, those monsters are gonna regret ever being hatched.” I look around at my teammates, and I feel strong. Almost like I could do anything I could imagine.
I steel myself and run out of the building we were sheltering in. I duck into the cover of a ruined building, my heart racing at the enemies I just saw. I peek out from my cover, and immediately duck back as a large monster stares at me.
[Lava Hound Lvl 120], the thing is easily five times the size of a normal hound. It has thick plates of armor and in the gaps between the plates there is a faint red glow like that of lava. Its head also has a single large horn that looks ready to gore me. Oh, did I mention its teeth? It has a lot of those too.
There are three of the monsters standing guard in front of the queen’s tear, the source of the hive and where the queen resides. So of course, it would be heavily guarded. Oh, and there are also several hundred normal hounds busy dragging eggs and other materials into and out of the hive.
But, I have been given a job, and I will accomplish it.
I leave cover and activate Stealth and jump on top of one of the big guys. I place the tip of my stave into the connecting spot between the neck and backplace and push a ton of mana into a jet of water.
My Stealth deactivates and I use all my aether to Blink off to the side behind a wrecked vehicle. I hear a loud cracking sound – the water jet activating – and then a roar from the hound. I waste no time and jump away from my cover and find another spot.
Not a moment too soon, as the spot I was hiding behind gets incinerated in a wave of flame. The metal of the wrecked vehicle gives away as though it is paper under the aether-powered flame.
When the flame subsides, I look back at the hound. Its neck and back plate are severely cracked, almost broken and I can see a lot of steam rising around the spot I hit. Stephen’s skill identified that spot as the monster’s sole weak spot, but also knew that it wouldn't kill it in one shot.
We are still cadets. So we don't have much in the way of skills that can be used to deal with monster variants like the Lava hound. Thus, we are forced to get clever with our tactics and target weak spots.
The hound roars again, and its friends start to move towards it. But before they can come to its aid, a spear of light forms in the air. On a nearby rooftop, I can see Moxie surrounded by a few runes. The spear falls, hitting the hound’s now exposed back and going right through its core.
The hound disintegrates as its core is destroyed. Exploding into the typical shower of black blood that gets everywhere. Naturally, this draws the attention of every single monster in the area to the nearest person.
Fuck.
I move as fast as I can from my hiding spot that is no longer hidden. I don't dare look back, I just run away as fast as I can. “Uh guys, the plan worked. Bad news though, the plan worked.”
“Ha! Maka bring them over here. I can handle a few puppies no issue.” Liv says, and I gladly do as she asks. I turn the street corner and jump over Liv. She anchors her shield into the ground and readies her sword.
I jump up on top of one of the nearby buildings and find Moxie and Stephen. “Good work, Maka. Now, we get to do the fun part.” Stephen says.
“Monsters go boom.” Moxie smiles, she must be super excited that she got to use a fancy new spell in combat. She came up with the entire structure in just a few hours of work. It was crazy to watch her work through the structure and patterns earlier, we all were mesmerised as the runes flew about her at speeds incomprehensible to us.
“Here they come!” Liv shouts as the first hound appears around the corner. Its teeth are bared and look ready to tear into some human flesh.
The first wave of monsters hit Liv. Or rather, they meet the edge of her blade and get sliced into pieces. Apparently Liv has some sort of countering skill that allows her to easily hit those that try to attack her. Combine that with her taunt, and the enemies basically walk in and slice themselves apart.
I toss a few fireballs into the fray and then run back towards the tear. I land on the ground and I spot Violet, currently dancing in between the two remaining lava hounds. She looks hot, pun intended.
“Idiot, you were supposed to distract them till I got back, not try to fight them alone!” I appear next to Violet and use my dagger to block one of the hound’s claws right before it hits her.
She spares me a brief glance along the lines of ‘fuck off, ill kill them alone.’ But there is also a hint of ‘thanks’ and ‘lets kill these bastards together.’ Truly conflicting messages, I do not understand her at all.
I jump on the back of one of the hounds and it tries to shake me violently. But thanks to my inhuman agility, I manage to remain on top. I drive my dagger deeply into its weak spot and pull back, hard.
With a crack, my dagger hits the underside of the back armor plate and it cracks apart. I jump off and nod to Violet as she launches herself past me.
With a beautiful aerial spin, she orients herself and drops downwards. The point of her blade embeds itself deeply into the hound’s flesh. The Hound roars and shoots its flame in a random direction. Violet pushes the blade deeper, and the hound disintegrates as she breaks apart its core.
She lands beside me and I smile at her. “See, isn't teamwork waaay easier?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
She looks at me, and for a brief moment I see a smile. “Shut the fuck up, idiot. That last one is going to die, now.”
“Whatever you say.” I say, then she scoffs and dodges to the side, right before the other hound charges right into me.
My side makes a horrifying crunching sound and I get launched several meters into a building. I crash through the wall and land inside. It seems to be some sort of supermarket. Not that that matters, considering I am currently struggling to breathe.
I think I have at least one broken rib, likely several. Turns out, a large monster that is covered in thick plates of armor is quite heavy. I feel a sense of heat coming towards me, and I immediately Blink to the side.
The hound’s flame breath incinerates the spot I just was. But it passes by me with a centimeter to spare. I may be broken, but I aint gonna let that thing cook me alive today.
The fire subsides and I see a familiar white haired girl peek her head through the wall. She quickly rushes in and stabs some sort of needle into my arm. Immediately I feel stronger, and all the pain fades from my body, almost like I am good as new.
“Combat stim. You aren't healed, the pain is just gone. Idiot.” Violet says, then she runs back out towards the hound and kites it away from me. Violet is such a badass, it's super hot too.
I get up and surely enough, I can move again. But I am definitely still injured. But, I steel myself and rush out back towards the lava hound. Violet looks at me and points upward with her free hand.
Taking her cue, I leap up onto the hound’s back and break its back armor once again. Then I quickly move out of the way as moments later, Violet’s blade spears it right through. To think, if I didn't move she would've gone right through me instead. Good to see that Violet is super concerned with my safety, it is reassuring.
The lava hound disintegrates with one final roar and then the area goes silent.
I collapse to the ground, the effects of the stim wearing off and the pain returning. Thankfully, the Dragon Guard armor comes with a stabilization function that can prevent injuries from worsening due to continued use. Apparently it can even help stop internal bleeding, which is nice.
Violet drops to the ground a few meters away from me. “You are an idiot.”
I grin and reply back despite the pain. “Well, so are you.”
“Am not.”
“You definitely are.”
“Nope, there is only one idiot here, and it is you.”
“I am definitely an idiot, but you are too.”
“I am definitely not an idiot. After all, I did not stand there and let the hound charge into me.” She turns to me, with that familiar cute scowl of hers. All of my pain disappears for a brief moment.
Before I can quip back, Liv, Stephen and Moxie walk into the area. Liv is absolutely soaked in monster blood while Stephen and Moxie are still completely silver. The benefits of being ranged fighters.
Moxie notices my injury immediately and rushes over and starts healing me. “Three broken ribs and punctured lung. Idiot.” Is my diagnosis. Even the doctor proclaims me an idiot.
Of course, Violet takes this opportunity to reinforce her stance. “See, you are an idiot.”
“I never denied myself being an idiot. I am simply saying that you are also an idiot, Ms. tries to fight two giant monsters alone.”
“That is simply not true.” She asserts and then looks away from me towards the giant rift.
It is a truly horrifying sight, a tear in reality. It is not dissimilar from the rifts that humanity and dragons create. But somehow it seems more violent. Almost like someone forcefully ripped a piece of reality out, rather than gracefully asking it to open.
Surrounding the rift is a large structure made of black aetherium. It hums with power, channeling aether from the other side to keep the rift open and stable.
Stephen approaches the rift. “Alright, let's get this thing stabilized shall we?” The FAUD walks up next to Stephen and he takes a device from it. It is a small device, but it packs a great ability. Stephen walks up to the frame of the rift and sticks the device firmly inside. He seems to struggle for a moment, but then with a small cracking sound, it goes inside.
Stephen takes a step back, his boot making a crunching sound in the blood-drenched soil. “The purging process has begun. Now we wait.”
[Rift Purging]
[Time Until Safe Entrance: 8 Hours]
[Time Until Rift Destabilization: 33 Hours]
[Queen’s Rift Rank: 1]
[Type: Assault]
[Average Monster Level: 90]
[Queen Level: 190]
“Level 90 monsters?!” Liv shouts, “This is gonna be fun, maybe they can actually pack a punch this time.” She laughs, seemingly excited at getting to take on some stronger monsters. Which does sound interesting.
Or, it would be if my side was currently not screaming at me to not move. “Ow!” I exclaim as Moxie jabs some sort of needle into my side.
“What a baby, just heal agent. No move for five hours.” She says, smiling at me. Then she packs up the healing kit and walks over to heal Liv, who has a few scratches on her side. Luckily, Moxie's heal skill is enough for those ones.
“So,” Stephen says, taking a seat next to me, “you really are an idiot.”
Violet breaks out into laughter. It is a beautiful sound, like that of an angel, or demon. If only it wasn't directed at me, I could enjoy it even more.
After Violet regains her composure, Stephen continues. “Did you seriously have to get injured right before we fought the queen? To a charge no less, you are a scout for fucks sake.”
I mull over his words and come up with a great answer. I whisper, making sure Violet cannot possibly hear me. “Well you see, I was just so caught up in Violet’s beautiful eyes that I forgot to dodge."
Stephen puts his hand up to his helmet, as if to scratch his nonexistent beard through it. “Hmm, I see. I guess that excuse is pretty good as far as excuses go.” He slaps me on the back, which sends a jolt of pain through my side. “Heal up, we've got a queen to slay in eight or so hours.” He leaves to go look at a map or something.
I sit for a while, unable to move due to the healing effects. I try to make coversation with Violet but she just tells me to fuck off. When she realizes I cannot move, she leaves. But as she passes by, I swear her face was a little bit red, like a blush. Maybe she opened her helmet to eat some food and got a blast of heat.
That is the only possible answer.
Liv throws some food at me and I eat it before I relax a bit. I drift off to sleep, trying to sleep all the pain away.
[Scout has leveled up! Lvl 70 -> Lvl 82]
[Mage has leveled up! Lvl 52 -> Lvl 66]
[Average Level is now 74]
[Gained 26 Unallocated Stat Points]
[Lemon has leveled up! Lvl 27 -> Lvl 35]
[Stealth has leveled up! Lvl 9 -> Lvl 12]
[Blink has leveled up! Lvl 16 -> Lvl 17]
[Magic Fundamentals has leveled up! Lvl 12 -> Lvl 15]
[Stave Proficiency has leveled up! Lvl 6 -> Lvl 7 (capped)]
Next Chapter: That's Just Horrifying
If you are enjoying the book, I would really appreciate it if you dropped a follow or comment!
Checkout the official
Who is your favourite character?
